Free resources for emergency support
If you are thinking about harming yourself or you are concerned about someone, please reach out for help…
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Call 1.833.456.4566. Toll free | 24/7/365
Text 45645 4 p.m. – midnight ET
If it's an emergency, please call 911
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Following are links to some wonderful and much needed sources of support.
For Crisis Support
Talk Suicide Canada has A network of 11 distress centres across the country with trained crisis responders providing nationwide, 24-hour, bilingual support to anyone who is facing suicide.
Their website is easy to access and read and is filled with helpful information, including but not limited to:
• education about suicide
• ways to cope
• ways to feel safer in the moment
• advice on talking about how you’re feeling
• community resources
• signs you may be struggling
• how to get help for someone else
Call 1.833.456.4566. Toll free | 24/7/365
https://talksuicide.ca
Wellness Check
If you are concerned about the welfare of someone—whether it’s a loved one who has dropped out of touch or a neighbour you haven’t seen in while—you can contact local police in the person’s town and ask for a wellness check. If there is reason to believe that there may be an emergency, call 911.
NOTE: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) expresses concern about whether the Police should be the ones conducting Wellness Checks: “… Police are not trained in crisis care and should not be expected to lead this important work.”
“Recent events have exposed the tragic outcomes that can occur when people with mental illness experience a crisis in the community and are not able to get the care that they need,” the statement reads. “Racism and anti-Black racism compound these crisis interactions.”
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/camh-urges-alternative-to-police-for-mental-health-checks-1.4999064?cache=xvlushbbrzkwk%3FcontactForm%3Dtrue
https://thelawdictionary.org/article/what-is-a-police-welfare-check/
Spiritual Advisor
If you are part of a spiritual/religious community remember that you can reach out to your community leaders or trusted members, if you feel safe and comfortable in doing so. If you are a spiritual person but are not connected to any community, there are many sources of free content that help people find their value and worth and to deal with the tremendous stresses and anxieties that so many people are living with:
Byron Katie’s 4 liberating questions are offered for free on her website and she also coaches people directly in a livestream a few times a week:
https://thework.com/2017/10/four-liberating-questions/
https://thework.com/at-home-with-byron-katie/
Panache Desai, whose message is that “you are enough” offers a free daily meditation:
https://www.panachedesai.com/call-to-calm-meditations/
Eckhart Tolle and Kim Eng offer free teachings and meditations to help people get out of their pain body and become more present:
https://eckharttolle.com/free-resources/
Join a Community
Life is filled with stresses and challenges. It’s important to have community support. The term “it takes a village to raise a child” is true. But the villagers need to support each other as well—at all times. Not just the members who are children, or when there is a mutual crisis.
As we’ve become a global community and created mega cities, we’ve lost our “villages”. So of course, we feel isolated, lonely and at times even without hope and purpose. Fortunately, people are starting to find each other again. More and more communities are popping up with each passing year.
Like the one created by a young woman, whose close friends didn’t invite her to a party. She went on to found “No More Lonely Friends”, community gatherings where everyone is welcome.
https://nomorelonelyfriends.com/
Like this one, the Well Earth Collaborative. It’s important for sensitive people to connect with each other to strengthen our voice and find belonging and safety within the global community. But there’s something more important in this connection…that’s of personal belonging, of knowing that someone cares about our well being and of feeling that our lives have importance.
Whether you find it here at WEC, with the lonely friends, with knitters, hikers, swimmers, musicians, a book club or writer’s circle, it doesn’t matter. When you connect with like-hearted people and express your creativity or follow your bliss in some way, you are feeding your soul and that is vital to a living a joyful existence.
These days you can always find like hearted people on social media platforms. An author I followed offered her readers a free book club on a Facebook. I didn’t receive my book until the end of the event so I asked in the chat if anyone wanted to go through it once again with me. One person answered and we started. Another soon joined and then another. When we finished that book, we started another. By that time more people had found us.
That was 3 years ago and we are still reading books together. But we have become so much more than a book club. We’ve become close friends. What used to take effort and energy to show up, we now look forward to with excitement and anticipation because it has become so joyful and nourishing.
Listen, it’s hard to create deep connections and it doesn’t happen overnight. You need to go through the initial awkward phase. You need to show up to all the gatherings. You need to be present with the other members. But then, often without realizing when it happened, you find yourself amongst people who truly care about your well being, and you theirs.
Here are a couple places to start looking for your people:
https://www.meetup.com/home/
https://bookclubs.com/join-a-book-club
https://www.wellearthcollaborative.com/site/contact
Take some time in exploring what your passion is. Start talking about it. Ask people for suggestions. Once you set an intention, you will be amazed at what turns up.
