Labor shortages are wreaking havoc in the crisis centers that deal with people who are most at risk when it comes to mental health. Due to staff shortages, some organizations have started to close beds and shut down services, threatening to bring even more people to emergency departments in crisis situations.
“I’ve been doing this for 21 years and this is the first time I’ve experienced such a dangerous situation,” explains Sylvie Picard, head of the Laval Crisis Center L’île.
The islet is the place where suicidal people in the Laval region are referred. Its doors are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Makeshift beds are available for the most severe cases. The organization also works with people at risk of homicide.
However, since last year, L’île has had to deal with the departure of 24 employees from a team of around fifty employees. And Ms. Picard just found out that she no longer has a staff member to evaluate new cases. If the situation doesn’t improve, she will also have to close three of her six beds. “We thought we would have some respite after the pandemic, but no, it’s worse than worse. »
As a result, Laval residents in a crisis are having to wait longer before seeking certain services and risk ending up in the emergency room, she laments. “There are waiting times that we have never had in the past. »
Ironically, the crisis centers were created 30 years ago to deal with emergencies, explains Hugues Laforce, spokesman for the Regroupement des services d’intervention de crise du Québec (RESICQ). “What’s special about crisis centers is that it’s an essential service,” he says.
They are also funded by the Integrated Health and Social Service Centers (CISSS). “We accept requests for help from everyone: from the population directly, from the police, from hospitals (emergency, ambulatory services and psychiatric) … We also receive requests from CISSSs and CIUSSSs [centres intégrés universitaires de santé et de services sociaux]. […] We are also increasingly intervening in the student advisory service at the universities. »
For the time being, most crisis centers have remained with service outages. But the crisis center La bouffée d’air in Rivière-du-Loup recently had to take another step: it closed its accommodation services.
Its doors have just partially reopened after a month-long hiatus. “We are working very hard to improve the situation because we are being pressured by our CISSS. As a crisis center, we are really indispensable to the network,” its director, Hélène Chabot, told Duty.
We thought we would have some respite after the pandemic, but no, it’s worse than worse
The paradox of this story is that the crisis centers are losing a large part of their staff in favor of … the CISSSs and CIUSSSs. “We compete with the public network in the labor market,” admits RESICQ Vice President Mr. Laforce. But we don’t fight as equals. »
In the healthcare network, not only are wages becoming cheaper, night and weekend shifts are also becoming rarer. The problem “isn’t new,” he says, but it’s been growing since 2020. Especially since the public network has relaxed its hiring criteria, notably by allowing the hiring of undergraduate students in psychology and other related disciplines, even if they don’t belong to any professional assignment.
“These people came to us early because they couldn’t find opportunities on the public network,” notes Mr. Laforce.
Not only is he hiring “our staff,” Ms. Picard added, but he will be drawing from the same workforce pool. However, unlike the public network, organizations like hers cannot offer remote work, which many potential recruits demand, she mentions. “Because crisis intervention is very short-term in order to avoid acting out. The therapeutic connection needs to be almost instantaneous, and it doesn’t work on the phone or on Zoom. »
Bonuses and Reinforcements
To recruit staff and reopen its doors, La Puffy of Air offered employees who work nights a $5 bonus, increasing their hourly wage from $21 to $26. For its part, CISSS provided her with two workers to fill all the shifts.
But Ms. Chabot stresses that her organization remains “very fragile”. “We have a day job that’s not yet filled and we don’t have a callback list. There are many people who haven’t finished their vacation yet and I can’t give them one. We can’t be sick. »
The problem is widespread in the network. The Quebec Crisis Center had to close nine beds and soon plans to limit community interventions and aftercare services. In Lanaudière, the region’s crisis services are preparing to replace two service points (in Rawdon and Repentigny) with one.
In Montreal, the Tracom crisis center in the west of the city is doing a little better. But he has to deal with a high proportion of inexperienced employees who need training. A little further east, the Le Transit crisis center had to close its accommodation twice for three days. In the Laurentians, Crisis Center Soleil Levant has already had to suspend its post-housing aftercare service and forecasts there will be further service disruptions over the holidays.
Etc.
Quebec is already aware of the situation, says Mr. Laforce. Earlier this month, RESICQ provided the Ministry of Health with a summary of the outages and service disruptions that have occurred at 7 of its 21 centers.
The organization, which counts data from the entire network, hopes that help will not be too late. “It was written in the heavens that it would happen. The government has known this for a long time. He has good listening, but there it will be necessary to go to another stage. »
If you are contemplating suicide or are concerned about a loved one, staff are always available at 1 866 APPEALS (1 866 277-3553), text (535353) or chat (www.suicide.ca). .