Dee Bardsley, a retired schoolteacher, began volunteering on our crisis lines in 2013. She still remembers one of her first high risk calls - from a struggling young man who was having thoughts of suicide. Dee had spoken with him for a few minutes when he revealed that he had always wanted to be a teacher. “I...
This week is National Volunteer Week, a week to show appreciation for the hundreds of volunteers who we rely on to provide crisis support by phone, chat, text and email. We pride ourselves on the value of our volunteer program. Volunteers invest their time in Distress Centre, and in turn, we invest in them. 99% of...
A few months ago, Peter Oxland, a crisis line volunteer at Distress Centre Calgary, answered a call at 2:30am and heard a faint whisper on the other end of the line. “The young girl eventually shared that she had had Distress Centre’s telephone number for nine months and had finally got the courage to call,” Peter...
18-year-old Jasper has conquered more boundaries in one year than he ever thought was possible. Jasper arrived at Distress Centre Calgary in May 2017, as a first year social work student from Mount Royal University. As a new social work practicum student, Jasper was both eager and anxious to begin his two-month placement, and with...
Carol Markusse, a successful business professional, was enjoying life with her husband and two children. Carol thought she had it all. She had obtained her undergraduate degree in business and later completed her Masters of Business Administration from Devry Institute of Technology in Calgary. Although her life seemed complete, Carol was unsettled and felt that...
Crisis line volunteer, Shane Stronach, at the Nexen booth in our contact centre. Shane Stronach had been looking for a long-term volunteer opportunity for a while when he came across Distress Centre. Having experienced his own crisis several years ago, he felt volunteering on our crisis lines could be a good opportunity to help out other...
Jeremy Luk, alumni Distress Centre volunteer and registered psychologist. Photo by @rockywanders Growing up, I was always a curious child who was fascinated by the lives of others and in understanding how the human brain worked, so it only seemed natural for me to explore a path in the area of psychology. My first year at...
ConnecTeen volunteer, Grace Yoon, at the CT booth in our Contact Centre. Photo by Claris Kabasu. ConnecTeen, a program of Distress Centre, provides confidential, non-judgemental peer support to Calgary teens by phone, text, chat and email. ConnecTeen also provides an opportunity for teens to have a meaningful and impactful volunteer experience. ConnecTeen volunteers are aged 15-20,...
Rich Paxton met his wife-to-be, Lauren, when he was playing a show in London, England and had to stay in a different hostel than the rest of his band, due to a booking mix-up. Lauren was staying in the same room and they started hanging out. By coincidence she was going to Edinburgh, Scotland, Rich’s hometown,...
Ryan Costello has volunteered with ConnecTeen since he was 15 and said he went in expecting to give back, but didn’t realize how much ConnecTeen would give back to him. “When you think of volunteering you think, ‘I am giving and not getting anything back from it,’ but with ConnecTeen, what you receive from it, it’s...
