Catholic Family Services of the Battlefords is offering free phone and online counselling services for anyone needing help. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff) 

By Angela Brown

Mental health support

CFS offering free counselling by phone and online

Apr 13, 2020 | 1:00 PM

Mental health support is just a phone call away for locals in need of help.

While the office space for Catholic Family Services of the Battlefords (CFS) is temporarily closed to comply with the province’s COVID-19 precaution measures, there are free counselling services available via phone and Zoom.

“All our counselling services are currently done virtually,” executive director Kim Morrison said. “We started in March with anyone we already had on file. Now we have opened it up to anyone in the community.”

Counselling is available for adults and children six years of age and older.

Those wishing to book an appointment can call CFS from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or leave a message if after hours. The services are available to everyone.

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“It’s going well. People, I think, are surprised by how much you can connect over the telephone,” Morrison said.

She added for children especially, they are more used to communicating with people through a face-to-face computer app so online counselling works well for many of them. Morrison said if possible CFS would appreciate an adult contact the centre first for the child to arrange counselling.

People can also visit the CFS Facebook page for suggestions on anxiety management.

Morrison said with the COVID-19 crisis in the world people are facing more challenges and often need mental health support to help them cope. She said many people have contacted CFS to make an appointment or to ask how to access counselling when they need it.

“It’s an unusual time that we haven’t seen before,” she said. “It does create all kinds of stress and anxiety. So it’s always better to reach out and talk to someone and get some help, and know that people are out there and that we can continue to connect in different ways so that we’re all getting through this together.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow