Help is Available!

At the Youth Crisis Line, they are there for you if you are worried about something, feel upset or confused, or you just want to talk to someone. The phone lines are available in over 140 languages using a language service. Let them know which language you require, and they will try and provide an interpreter.

This sexual assault response line is available 24/7. Skilled support workers are here to listen and provide non-judgmental support and information. Services are free and confidential.

If you are in crisis and/or distress and require an immediate response, this is a 24 hour, 7 days a week Distress Line, BC-wide.

Kids Help Phone is a free and anonymous service that supports young people as they build the skills and abilities they’ll need to improve their emotional health and well-being. In addition to an array of counselling options, they offer young people a wide range of online resources and work tirelessly to share young people’s perspectives on a societal level – locally, nationally, and globally.

Need help right now? Call 1-800-668-6868 to speak to a counsellor.
Need help but not urgently? Visit websites to find support:

Kids Help Phone: http://kidshelpphone.ca
BroTalk: http://www.brotalk.ca
Resources Around Me: https://kidshelpphone.ca/resourcesaroundme/welcome.html

Kids Help Phone promises that all calls and live chat are anonymous and confidential. Kids Help Phone professional counsellors provide free support to young people across Canada in both English and French.

24/7 Phone: 1-800-668-6868
Live Chat: Wed- Sun 6pm to 2am EST
http://kidshelpphone.ca/Teens/AskUsOnline/Chat-counselling.aspx
App: https://kidshelpphone.ca/Teens/PhoneUs/AlwaysThere.aspx

A 24-hour women’s crisis line. Someone is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Are you in danger? Is someone you know being threatened? Want to make a difference?

Call the Youth Against Violence Line at 1-800-680-4264 and talk one-on-one to a YAV Line support worker 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or e-mail us at info@youthagainstviolenceline.com.

If you’re in any way concerned about your safety or the safety of others, we can help. Anything you say is kept completely confidential and you remain totally anonymous – we don’t have call display either. And, because the YAV Line is a multilingual service, we can talk to you in your language.

Concerned parents, teachers, caregivers, service providers and others are also welcome to call for information and assistance.

If you are in immediate danger, please call 911 or your local police department.

The North Shore Youth Safe House is a two tier, multi-component resource for youth between the ages of 13 and 18 in need of a safe bed where their immediate basic needs can be met. The upper floor of the home is a four bed 24 hour staffed resource providing short-term emergency accommodation and support services designed to return the youth to a stabilized family home or alternate living environment. The lower level of the home is a separate, two bed longer-term resource designed to provide transitional support towards independent living.

– Are you at risk of harm or abuse?
– Do you need a safe place to stay?
– Are you afraid to go home? Do you have problems at home?
– Are you couch surfing, been kicked out of home or evicted?
– Are you a parent or caregiver in need of a place to turn?

The Safe House is staffed by caring and friendly youth workers 24 hours a day, 7-days a week and utilizes an Integrated Case Management approach to provide the community supports required to meet the complex needs of high risk youth. Residents of the Safe House have access to:

– Family Support Workers, Parent-Teen Mediation and Transitional Youth Workers provided by Hollyburn Family Services under contract with the Ministry of Children and Family Development
– Drug and Alcohol Assessment provided by Vancouver Coastal Health
– On-going and after-care support of Community Youth Outreach Workers funded by the three North Shore municipalities
– Nutritious meals, a clean room and bed, baths, showers, and laundry facilities
– Referral to other required services such as medical help, mental health support, educational and vocational counselling

Referrals:

Individuals may self refer to the North Shore Safe House. We also accept referrals from: Family, Friends, School Counsellors, Youth Workers, Alcohol & Drug Counsellors, Social Workers, Police / RCMP, Community Nurses, Mental Health Workers, and other concerned individuals.

If you or someone you know is a North Shore youth, aged 13-18, needing a safe place to stay, call our 24-hour toll-free line at 1-877-78-YOUTH (1-877-789-6884) to speak with someone who can help.

The North Shore Youth Safe House is licensed by Vancouver Coastal Health.

Anxiety can totally suck! It can mess with you in so many ways – like when making friends, with stuff at school and even when you’re trying to sleep. Too much anxiety takes the fun out of life. But you are not alone! Lots of teens experience problems with anxiety. And there is lots you can do to take charge of your anxiety for good.

Anxietybc.com is a website that provides resources for dealing with and improving on your anxiety. There is also a 24/7 crisis line if you just need to talk to someone.

The First Nations Health Authority and KUU-US Crisis Response Services provide crisis line support services for First Nations and Aboriginal people in BC. The 24-hour crisis line is available 7 days a week, from anywhere in the province.

KUU-US services are for First Nations, by First Nations – all crisis response personnel are certified and trained in Indigenous cultural safety and therefore bring an understanding of First Nations history and trauma from the residential school to their roles. Last year, KUU-US helped over 10,000 individuals with mental health issues and crises related to residential school, child welfare, addiction, health concerns, divorce/separation, suicide ideation/survivorship, grief/loss, crime, abuse, peer pressure and financial distress.

The crisis line can be accessed toll-free at 1-800-KUU-US17.

Mind Your Mind is a community for younger people who are learning to take charge of their mental health. You can read stories and interviews, learn more about mental health, check out a toolbox of skills and find resources.

These resources are designed to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and increase access and use of community support, both professional and peer-based.

Through the use of active engagement, best practice and technology, mindyourmind inspires youth to reach out, get help and give help.

They aim to:
•provide a platform for youth, their stories, and their point of view
•ask for youth input and make changes as necessary
•go where youth are– they don’t expect to be a destination
•use art, music, video and other creative modalities to engage youth
•strengthen youth-adult partnerships

Struggling with anxiety? Tired of missing out? There are things you can do to stop anxiety and fear from controlling your life. MindShift is an app designed to help teens and young adults cope with anxiety. It can help you change how you think about anxiety. Rather than trying to avoid anxiety, you can make an important shift and face it.

MindShift will help you learn how to relax, develop more helpful ways of thinking, and identify active steps that will help you take charge of your anxiety. This app includes strategies to deal with everyday anxiety, as well as specific tools to tackle:
•Test Anxiety
•Perfectionism
•Social Anxiety
•Performance Anxiety
•Worry
•Panic
•Conflict

Think of MindShift as your portable coach helping you face challenging situations and take charge of your life.

MindShift is the work of a joint collaboration between AnxietyBC, a non-profit organization devoted to increasing the public’s awareness and access to evidence-based resources on anxiety disorders, and BC Children’s Hospital, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority. Funding for MindShift enhancements was made possible by the RBC Children’s Mental Health Project.

Download at the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android.

At HealthLink BC, you will find medically-approved information on more than 5,000 health topics, symptoms, medications, and tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. You can also search the online Directory to find health services near you.

Call 8-1-1 from anywhere in British Columbia to speak with a nurse any time of the day or night. On weekdays, you can speak to a dietitian about nutrition and healthy eating. At night, we have pharmacists available to answer your medication questions.

Abuse can be physical, emotional or sexual. Abuse can be abandonment, desertion, neglect, ill-treatment, or failure to meet the physical, emotional needs or medical needs of a child. Abuse can be stopped.

If you think a child is being abused or neglected, you can call the 24-hour Helpline for Children toll-free at 310-1234 (no area code is required).

Who Can Call?

Children
A child who is being abused at home, at school, in the play ground – anywhere – can call for help.

Parents
Parents who are afraid they might hurt their child can call for help.

Community Members
If you know a family where a child is being abused, call the Helpline. You can call anonymously.

There is always a social worker at the end of the phone willing to listen, someone to take action, someone who cares.

bc211 is a Vancouver-based nonprofit organization that specializes in providing information and referrals regarding community, government and social services in BC. Our help line services include 211, the Alcohol and Drug Information and Referral Service (ADIRS), the Problem Gambling Help Line, VictimLink BC, and the Youth Against Violence Line.

bc211 is a confidential, multilingual telephone service available in Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Squamish-Lillooet and Sunshine Coast Regional Districts. The line provides free information and referral to a full range of community, social, and government services, and operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

YouthInBC.com supports young people in distress, and those concerned about them, by providing the community’s youth the opportunity to receive non-judgmental, free online crisis intervention counselling, information and resources from highly trained volunteers. This online support is now easily accessible through smartphones, allowing youth access to real-time, online support anywhere.

YouthInBC.com is a program of the Crisis Centre.