Sandra Boulianne, the Program Coordinator for the Crisis Prevention, Intervention and Information Centre for Northern BC

Prince George, BC – For residents struggling with a crisis in Northern BC, help is only a phone call away…

The Crisis Prevention, Intervention, and Information Centre for Northern BC operates a 24-hour crisis line staffed by trained volunteers.  The centre fields calls from across the northern half of the province and is currently running with between 15 and 20 volunteers.

Program Coordinator, Sandra Boulianne, says the majority of those volunteers are post-secondary student – which is wonderful – but the centre is looking to broaden its base.

"We love our students – they’re really keen and very trainable – but we’d just like to have a more diverse base," says Bouliane.  "With students, their lives are always changing, so we don’t always keep them.  And so to have some stability and add that diversity we’d love to have some working people, baby boomers, seniors and just anyone with a heart for listening and the time for training."

The centre runs a training program that covers two weekends – Friday evenings from 6-9pm, and then 9am-4pm on Saturday and Sunday.  The next session begins at the end of this month (Sept 28-30) and will wrap up October 19-21st.  Boulianne says she’s already had six people commit and she’s love to have at least another six.  "But if there’s too many, hey, maybe we’ll hold another training session – we can’t have enough volunteers." 

There is a $75 fee to take the training program, but that’s refunded after 100 volunteer hours.  Boulianne says in the past, people were taking the training to further their vocational goals, without volunteering for the Crisis Line.  The commitment is one 3-4 hour shift per week. 

For more information on the centre and to download a volunteer application, click here.

If you are experiencing a crisis, the number to call in Prince George is 250-563-1214, or 1-888-562-1214 in Northern BC.