National text service connects troubled youths with counsellors

Kids Help Phone launched the Crisis Text Line in Manitoba as a pilot project in Feb. and was gradually expanded to include all jurisdictions on Nov. 6. Even before the initiative went live in B.C., Ontario and Quebec, the service was generating 1,000 messages per week, mainly for anxiety and depression. Under the program, youth can speak with a counsellor via text in either French or English. It requires no data or internet plan or an app and can be accessed by residents of rural communities with unreliable connectivity.