K.I.N.D. support for those in need in Port Alberni

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A void in crisis handling in the Port Alberni area is now filled by a pilot project that sends support where it's needed most. The KUU-US Crisis Line Society recently launched its 24-hour crisis response outreach service, dubbed K.I.N.D. (KUU-US Intervention and Networking Division), offering one-on-one support in situations where phone-line assistance falls short.

The KUU-US Crisis Line has been taking calls from 14 Native band regions in the Port Alberni, Bamfield and West Coast area since 1994. Out of an average of 1,000 calls a year, 60 per cent are from Native people in desperate need of counselling, stabilization, and suicide intervention.

"The majority of high-risk callers are from the Aboriginal community," said Elia Nicholson-Nave of KUU-US.

A Royal Commission Report on suicide among Aboriginal people published back in 1995 estimated that suicide rates across all age groups of Aboriginal people were three times higher than in the non-Aboriginal population, and an appalling 25 per cent of accidental deaths among Aboriginal people are really unreported suicides.

According to the Crisis Centre of Greater Vancouver, over the past 40 years, the incidence of teen suicides in Canada has increased by over 600 per cent. The statistics are even more daunting in the Aboriginal community, at six times the national average for suicide completion.

Cultural stress has been considered the major contributing factor to the high suicide rates in the Aboriginal community. The impact of residential schools and the loss of self-identity often escalate other personal issues and push people over the edge of despair. Fortunately, many seek help or give warning signs before attempting the unthinkable, but sometimes counselling over the phone has its limits.

Though many distressed calls are resolved and de-escalated on the phone line, with close monitoring and follow-up procedures afterwards, other cases need additional support and referrals, says Nicholson-Nave, including services that may be inaccessible at critical times of need.

"At 1 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon or 2 a.m. on a Friday night [when] other counselling services are closed, our hands are tied."

"When a crisis line operator decides that phone-in support is no longer appropriate in a traumatic situation," said Nicholson-Nave, "two out-reach workers will be paged and dispatched." The outreach workers can arrive on the scene within 15 minutes and will handle domestic dispute and suicide intervention, counsel grieving family members, as well as offer emotional support to people affected by deadly accidents.

The pilot project has been made possible through funding by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Public Gaming and various in-house fundraisers, totalling just over $250,000.

The funding has allowed KUU-US to employ 12 full-time phone operators as well as assemble the outreach team, which can dispatch as many as six workers at a time. The outreach service, expected to run for 10 months on current funding, is the first established in B.C. and among the few in the country.

"[The community] has been very grateful [for the service]," says Nicholson-Nave. "Port Alberni has never seen anything of this kind." A lot of thoughts have been put into the designing and planning of the program. "For seven years we've heard from clients saying that this service is needed," Nicholson-Nave added, "we know that through this program there's no reason why anybody can't be serviced in the area."