Staff from Catholic Family Services have been conducting all counselling sessions over the phone on the internet for several weeks now. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Stress and mental health

Counsellors concerned by cancelled appointments, reduced calls for help

Apr 16, 2020 | 5:00 PM

When Catholic Family Services closed its office to the public a month ago, staff members anticipated they’d soon see a flood in people reaching out for online and telephone counselling as they grappled with the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That surge never came, and in fact the opposite happened. Clients have cancelled 100 counselling appointments in the last month.

That’s worrying for Executive Director Louise Zurowski.

“If people aren’t dealing with these issues now, the anxiety levels and the stress is just going to elevate,” she told paNOW.

Many families the organization works with don’t have a reliable internet connection or even a phone. Zurowski said an additional worry is it’s already very difficult to conduct video or telephone counselling sessions with children.

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She said staff have been trying to get in touch with clients, but many people would just prefer to wait until they can talk to a counsellor in person again. Still, she’s encouraging people to give remote counselling a try.

“If you are in crisis or stressed and on a scale of one to 10 it’s a four or five. Call before it gets to a 10,” she said.

Police continue to respond to high call volume

Meanwhile the Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) continues to see an increased volume of non-criminal calls for service, a category that encompasses calls for disturbances, intoxicated persons and family disputes.

While that trend goes back to the beginning of 2020, Chief Jon Bergen told paNOW the service is aware the COVID-19 pandemic could further increase non-criminal calls.

“The pandemic is creating restrictions and people have to adapt to what their usual life is and that’s going to create stress,” Bergen said, adding that stress can exacerbate existing addiction issues.

Between April 1 to 13, PAPS responded to 159 calls for service for evictions (people refusing to leave a residence or business when asked to do so). That’s up from 80 during the same two-week period in 2019. Similarly, 209 calls for disturbances, which could include people yelling or arguing loudly, were recorded between April 1 to 13 this year, up from 164 during the same period last year.

Calls for family disputes, intoxicated persons and suspicious incidents were down.

“Social issues, addictions are always at the root cause of these different issues, it’s very common that alcohol and drugs are a contributing factor,” Bergen said. “And, of course now there’s been some limitations put in place by health, so people are at home more and more confined than they typically are.”

Bergen said PAPS is adapting to the pandemic to continue to serve the community.

“We’re making sure to keep engaged with our health partners and deploy or resources where they’re needed,” Bergen said.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom