Pictou County Help Line Replaces Disconnected X-helpline

September 22, 2011 9:21 PM

Callers to the X-helpline won’t be getting a dial tone any more; Their calls will now be redirected to the Pictou County Help Line.


The decision to cut the X-helpline, previously a union service under the jurisdiction of Vice President of Union Services Mariah MacKeigan, was made at the end of the last academic year. 
 MacKeigan explains that the decision was made after sitting down with outgoing VP Union Services Isabelle Gosselin, Director of Health and Counseling Angela Marshall, outgoing X-helpline coordinator Elizabeth Faour and President of the Students’ Union Olywn Foley.


Previously, the service cost $2,400, split between the honorarium for the coordinator, the telephone bill and the training budget.  In 2011-12, the union will donate $500 to the Pictou County Help Line in exchange for the right to advertise the phone line on campus.


The money saved by the students’ union was redirected into funding other services, such as the frosh information phone line, which was considerably more successful. Peer mentors, who staffed the lines for the week, received 73 calls.  


The change was motivated by concerns about the effectiveness of the helpline. The liability of the students' union, the training volunteers received, the number of calls and the cost of the program were all factors in reaching a decision.


MacKeigan says that people, including Angela Marshall, had raised concerns about the implications for those making and receiving crisis calls.  MacKeigan believes that is it not healthy for students to be taking crisis calls, and that the union could be held liable for any damages incurred.  


Furthermore, over the past two years, calls have never exceeded more than four per month. 
 MacKeigan studied the call logs and saw that calls fell into three categories: crisis calls, information calls and a recurring caller. 


A recurring caller made two or three calls each month for over four years. The individual was not a student. Calling from a Skype number, the individual would recount “graphic and disturbing” stories to student volunteers. MacKeigan says that the protocol in dealing with this caller was to explain that they were misusing the line and then hang up. 


The X-helpline was a crisis helpline, dealing with everything from homesickness to suicide prevention. However, MacKeigan explains that of the three types of calls, crisis calls were the least common. 


“The X-helpline was an extremely popular service when it first came in the late nineties, [but when] the counseling center was revamped [they did] a lot of work to take away the negative stigma behind going to see someone to talk to, and so they’ve been extremely successful, which we’re very happy for. But with [the counseling center] being so successful, there is less of a need for the help line service,” says MacKeigan.


The Pictou County Help Line has been in operation for 30 years and is staffed by volunteers.
 Volunteers receive several days of training and must provide a criminal record check.  The helpline has developed relationships with professionals including counselors, nurses, and police in the area, who they draw on to address concerns raised by callers.


MacKeigan made the decision to partner with the Pictou County Help Line after discussing the matter with its board of directors.  Because the volunteers are relatively unfamiliar with the Antigonish area, they were provided with a complete university services directory as well as a town and county community resource directory complied by the Guysborough Antigonish Strait Health Authority (GASHA). 


MacKeigan has asked that callers are referred first to the university services as they are often more accessible to students.