Students in crisis can call the Mobile Crisis Service for help.

Being a college student is fucking stressful. Risking thousands of dollars on late-night cram sessions and last-minute essays can leave students feeling powerless and result in alcohol and drug addiction and, occasionally, suicidal thoughts. But as bad as it feels to bomb an exam or blow an assignment, there are services for students that can provide support.

Located just across the University Bridge, the Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service, or SCIS, has been in operation for 32 years, providing round-the-clock advice to people of all ages, races and genders. There, intervention workers take phone calls and help guide anyone struggling, from day-to-day issues to long-term mental, physical and emotional stress.

“As long as people feel it’s a crisis, we are there to provide support,” said the SCIS executive director Rita Field.

The service is completely confidential and though they encourage people to use their real names to build trust between the workers and callers, it is not required. Each of the crisis interventionists is trained to handle a wide variety of troubled situations.

The Mobile Crisis Service department at the SCIS deals with daily over-the-phone matters as well as occasional house calls. The Crisis Management Service department, on the other hand, is concerned with callers who are high-risk or in a constant state of crisis. A person is classified as high-risk if they are in danger of causing harm to themselves or others.

Aside from calls pertaining to personal issues, Field says they also provide support and information to university students who are concerned about their peers. The SCIS’s interventionists can provide help for nearly every situation, and if they are unable to provide the necessary services they have the ability to refer the caller to someone who can.

For example, the SCIS often refers callers who are victims of sexual abuse to the Saskatoon Sexual Assault and Information Centre, which is located in the same building. The SSAIC runs a sexual assault hotline that is similar to the Mobile Crisis Service, but focused specifically on “dealing with sexual assault issues… survivors of a [recent] rape, or survivors of a past assault who just need support,” said Megan Sawyer, a councillor for the SSAIC.

The SSAIC also offers group sessions and one-on-one therapy that helps victims cope with the long-term trauma of assault.

The sexual assault hotline relies solely on volunteers who are trained for a minimum of 30 hours in legal and criminal procedures, the importance of assault kits and what type of dialect to use when speaking to callers.

The Mobile Crisis Service hotline employs interventionists with a bachelor’s degree in social work or a similar program.

The largest demographic of callers to both services is females, aged 18 to 35.

“32 years ago, we had maybe 500 calls,” Field said. “In 2011 alone, we have had 20,000 calls… We are constantly trying to make it easy for people to converse with us.”

Crisis Management —  933-8234
saskatooncrisis.ca

Sexual Assault Hotline — 244-2224
saskatoonsexualassaultcenter.com[/box]

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Photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf