The number of support requests Kids Help Phone receives at night is increasing across Canada, the e-mental health support service said.
Demands for reach-outs via text from the hours of 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. eastern time are 183 per cent higher than those received during the day, Kids Help Phone said in a news release.
A 24 per cent increase in overnight requests for help was also reported in the first six months of this year, when compared to last, it said. The six-month data included information as of June 30.
“I say it’s a canary in the coal mine time,” Rebecca Shields, president and CEO at Kids Help Phone, told Global News.
Shields said Kids Help Phone receives a crisis text every 90 seconds.
“Young people are reaching out for a range of issues. Our top issues always remain stress and anxiety, and that’s related [to] a whole host of things that young people are facing. It could be school stress. It could be looking at the jobs of the future,” she continued.
Shields said many of the people reaching out have relationship-related concerns — whether they are dealing with issues with their friends, or in familial or romantic relationships.
Depression and hopelessness are also common concerns from people contacting Kids Help Phone, its CEO said. She cited stressors, including geopolitical events and concerns about affordability as they age into adulthood as contributing factors.
“Sadly, our fourth top issue still remains thoughts of suicide and crisis calls,” Shields noted.
Kids Help Phone said the rate at which the overnight calls are increasing varies from province to province. It said the highest increase was reported in Yukon, at 64 per cent.
The other territories, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, reported 17 per cent and 25 per cent upticks, respectively.
Overnight demand spiked in Prince Edward Island, where it went up by 59 per cent. Newfoundland and Labrador rose by 12 per cent and Nova Scotia by 26 per cent, according to Kids Help Phone. In New Brunswick, the number of overnight requests spiked by 49 per cent.
Ontario saw a 27 per cent increase, and in Quebec, the demand rose by 10 per cent, Kids Help Phone said. In Manitoba, the number of contacts made to the organization increased by 30 per cent.
Dr. Jo Ann Unger, a clinical psychologist with Shared Health in Manitoba, said an increase in calls to the mental health service is a manifestation of current events, mixed with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health.
“A lot of kids have had trouble coming back to school. Vacancy rates in school have been lower than pre-pandemic time periods. So, we have all these events coming together at the same time leading to youth calling for help. They’re calling for help from us,” Unger said, adding that “we need to answer this call.”
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Saskatchewan saw a 36 per cent increase, and Albertan calls went up by 29 per cent. Kids Help Phone said British Columbia had a 49 per cent rise in contact.
In a statement emailed to Global News, the B.C. Ministry of Health said young people who are struggling with their mental health must be met with compassion.
“Our focus continues to be on early intervention and prevention, so we can stop small problems from becoming bigger down the road. That’s why we’re expanding Foundry centres, Integrated Child and Youth teams, and substance use beds across the province,” the statement added.
The province has 15 Foundry centres in development, according to the health ministry. These facilities provide free services to help support mental health and wellness for people aged 12-24.
Why are kids calling for help at night?
Overnight, people are reaching out for help more frequently than during daytime hours, according to Kids Help Phone.
Its CEO said the increase may be related to the busy daytime schedules many children face. Young people have school, extracurriculars, and social lives to manage, and some teenagers also work, Shields noted.
“At night, that might be the only time that they actually get a chance to start to think about the things that are occurring around them, but it’s also a time that nobody else is awake and no other resources are available,” she said.
“They can start to really ruminate or it can come head at night and that’s when they need to reach out for support, sometimes just to talk about it. Sometimes to be the first time they share something.”
More than three-quarters of callers tell Kids Help Phone something they had never previously shared, Shields added.
Anjana Sudharshan, the national youth council co-chair and a board member with Kids Help Phone, said she believes the overnight increase may also have something to do with people’s scrolling habits after dark.
“[Night is] the only time you get for yourself, but at the same time, I think what we’re faced with that other generations didn’t have is your phone. A lot of my peers report (that) they want to get that time back for themselves, and they end up putting that in their phone and doomscrolling. And then they’re up the whole entire night.”
She said doomscrolling all night may impact sleep, which can affect mental health.
“Your phone might literally be the only thing in that room. And whether that is positive or negative really depends on the individual’s experience, and so I think there is a gap there in terms of support for young people when they’re alone at night,” Sudharshan continued.
Sudharshan said she once contacted Kids Help Phone for a friend who needed help at night, as she “didn’t really know who to turn to.”
“Kids Help Phone was there to support a bridge and help provide me with the assistance I needed to guide my approach in helping that peer.”
Shared Health’s psychologist, Dr. Ungar, cautioned parents from blanket-banning cellphones from their kids’ rooms at bedtime.
“It is a really individual situation because we don’t know what’s happening before they’re making the call [to Kids Help Phone] on their device. So, if they’re scrolling online and they’re seeing things that are upsetting, it may actually be beneficial for their phone not to be in the room because it could be a contributing factor to that call out for help,” Unger said.
“It may also be a lifeline in those moments when maybe they’re alone and it’s quiet and their thoughts are spiralling.”
Her recommendation for parents who are helping their kids navigate mental health struggles was to speak with their kids. From there, the doctor said to form a plan for crisis situations, as well as the moments when negative or anxious thoughts begin forming.
