Labor shortages are disrupting crisis centers that work with those most at risk in terms of mental health. Due to staff shortages, some organizations have begun closing beds and suspending services, which threatens to push even more people in crisis to emergency rooms.
“I’ve been doing it for 21 years and this is the first time I’ve experienced such a dangerous situation,” explains the director of the Laval L’île crisis center, Sylvie Picard.
The islet is the place to which suicides in the Laval region are directed. Its doors are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Temporary beds are available for more severe cases. The organization also works with people at risk of murder.
However, since last year, L’île has had to deal with the departure of 24 workers, out of a team of around fifty people. And mmyself Picard has just learned that he no longer has a worker to evaluate new cases. If the situation doesn’t improve, he will also have to close three of his six beds. “We thought we had a reprieve after the pandemic, but no, it’s worse than worse. »
Crisis residents of Laval will therefore have to wait longer before accessing certain care services and risk ending up in the emergency room, he laments. “There are waiting times that we have never had in the past. »
Ironically, crisis centers were created 30 years ago to unblock emergencies, explains Hugues Laforce, spokesman for the Regroupement des services d’intervention de crise du Québec (RESICQ). “What’s unique about crisis centers is that it’s an essential service,” he says.
They are also financed by the Integrated Health and Social Services Centers (CISSS). “We accept requests for help from everyone: directly from the population, from law enforcement agencies, from hospitals (emergency rooms, outpatient clinics and psychiatry)… We also accept requests from CISSS and CIUSSS [centres intégrés universitaires de santé et de services sociaux]. […] We also increasingly intervene with support services for university students. »
For now, most crisis centers have stuck to service outages. But the crisis center La bouffée d’air, in Rivière-du-Loup, was recently forced to take another step: it stopped its accommodation services.
Its doors have only partially reopened, after a month’s break. “We are working very hard to remedy the situation as we are under pressure from our CISSS. As a crisis center, we are really essential to the network,” said the Must its director, Hélène Chabot.
We thought we had a reprieve after the pandemic, but no, it’s worse than worse
The paradox of this story is that crisis centers are losing a large part of their employees to… CISSS and CIUSSS. “We are competitors of the public network on the labor market, admits the vice president of RESICQ, Mr. Laforce. But we are not fighting on equal terms. »
Not only are wages more attractive in the healthcare network, but night and weekend shifts are becoming rarer. The problem “isn’t new,” he says, but it has grown since 2020. All the more so as the public network has relaxed its hiring criteria, in particular by allowing graduates in psychology and other related disciplines to be hired even if they don’t belong to any professional order.
“These people used to come to us because they couldn’t find opportunities in the public network,” notes Mr. Laforce.
Not only does it “hire our staff,” adds Mmyself Picard, but will also draw from the same workforce. However, unlike the public network, organizations like his can’t offer telecommuting, which is required by many potential hires, he says. “Because crisis intervention is very short-term to avoid taking action. Therapeutic linking needs to be almost immediate, and it doesn’t work over the phone or Zoom. »
Bounties and reinforcements
To recruit staff and reopen its doors, puffy of air offered a $5 bonus to employees who work nights, raising their hourly wages from $21 to $26. CISSS, for its part, loaned it two workers to cover all rounds.
Butmyself Chabot points out that his organization remains “very fragile”. “We have day-to-day work that hasn’t been completed yet and we don’t have a recall list. There are a lot of people who haven’t finished taking time off, and I can’t give them any. 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 interventions and follow-up services in the community. 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 on the west side of the city is doing a little better. But it has to do with a high percentage of inexperienced employees who need training. A little further east, the crisis center Le transit has had to close its accommodation service for three days on two occasions. In the Laurentians, the Soleil Levante crisis center has already had to interrupt the post-residential follow-up service and expects further service interruptions during the holidays.
And so on.
Quebec is already aware of the situation, says Laforce. Earlier this month, RESICQ presented the Ministry of Health with a summary of breakdowns and service disruptions that had occurred in 7 of its 21 centres.
The organization, which counts the data all over the network, hopes that help will not arrive too late. “It was written in the sky that this would happen. The government has known about this for some time. He has a good hearing, but there we will have to move on to another phase. »
If you are thinking about suicide or if you are worried about a loved one, operators are always available on 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553), by text message (535353) or by chat (Suicide.ca).
