People in Waterloo-Wellington are stressed about COVID-19, convoys and now Ukraine: CMHA

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the feeling that it may never end continues to cause stress and anxiety for people in Waterloo-Wellington, a new survey shows.

But that's not the only issue worrying people, says Helen Fishburn, CEO of Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo-Wellington.

"Our [call] volumes tend to follow COVID numbers, so if our COVID numbers are higher, our call volumes are higher," Fishburn told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, adding that a spike was seen over the holidays when the Omicron wave forced many Ontarians to once again cancel holiday plans.

But on top of that, now, are feelings of stress and anxiety linked to public healthprotests and theimpact that the war on Ukraine has on human lives.

Frishburn said last month, as the convoy protests were underwayin Ottawa and across the country,they saw call volumes swell.

"We saw a lot of dark feelings emerge. We saw the division in our community and we saw people really suffering and struggling with the way many protesters were expressing their frustration and their anger," she said.

Now, the COVID-19 calls are mixed with calls about Russia invading Ukraine.

"We're also seeing a peak in our call volumes relating to the stress, worry and overall trauma relating from the war in Ukraine. We're getting a lot of people calling from our community who are really distressed about the war and the pain that that's generating across our world," she said.

Concerns about COVID-19

A CMHA survey sampled 3,030 people aged 18 and older living in Canada between Nov. 29 and Dec. 7. The survey was representative of the adult Canadian population by age, gender, province/territory, and household income. It has a margin of error of 1.79 per cent.

The fourth report from that survey was released this week.

It found in Ontario, 64 per cent of people were worried about new variants and 56 per cent were worried about COVID-19 circulating in the population for years to come.

More than a third, 39 per cent, said their mental health has declined since the start of the pandemic.

The lead researcher for the study was Emily Jenkins, a professor of nursing at the University of British Columbia. She said the numbers also showed inequities in how different groups of people have been impacted by the pandemic.

For example, 57 per cent of people who were unemployed due to COVID-19 said their mental health had declined.

So did:

• 54 per cent of people with a pre-existing mental health condition.
• 49 per cent who identified as LGBTQ2+.
• 47 per cent who were students.
• 44 per cent of people with a disability.
• 42 per cent of people who are Indigenous.

"This is dividing our society into haves and have-nots when it comes to mental health and illness," Jenkins said in a news release. "The pandemic has made it impossible to ignore the longstanding service gaps and systemic barriers in our systems."

Higher call volumes new norm

Fishburn says those same statistics are reflected in the number of people seeking support, locally.

She noted that prior to the pandemic, the CMHA's monthly call volumes to its Here 24/7 phone line was between 3,500 and 4,000 calls per month.

Now, it gets between 6,000 to 6,500 calls per month.

Fishburn said one positive aspect of the higher call volumes isthat it means people are willing to seek out help.

But the high call volumes are also a new normal, she said.

"What we're walking away with is, first of all, there continues to be a very strong shift in baseline with mental health and addictions presentations across our community," she said.

"The old statistic that we used pre-pandemic the one in five Canadians being impacted by mental health and addiction issues that's out the window. The baseline has completely shifted given the level of distress, the level of disruption and the incredible level of anxiety that people carry now on a day-to-day basis."

This could shift into endemic mental health and addiction issues, Fishburn says.

What needs to happen

People showing compassion and empathy can go a long way in helping others, she said.

But so will funding from the provincial government.

Fishburn said she recently brought together mental health and addictions partners in Waterloo-Wellington to create a funding proposal to present to the province. It looks at a "continuum of care" from prevention to residential care and hospital admissions for those who need it.

"We continue to advocate. We've seen some funding come into our community, which has been really, really gratifying," she said, but added CMHA and other partners in the field will also need to raise funds on their own from private donors to really meet the needs of people in the community.

"We need to keep all of our efforts going, whether it's advocacy with the government, public private partnerships and direct fundraising," she said. "We know that we need to continue to add more care so that we can respond to our community in a very different way."

If you're struggling or know someone who is, here's where to get help:

• Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington's Call Here 24/7: 1-844-437-3247 orits website.
• Canada Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text).
• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling onthe website.