Our Mission

An association that is the recognized leader in promoting collaboration and building capacity in organizations that provide distress and crisis response.

Our Vision

An environment of collaboration and networking with universal access to support for individuals in distress and crisis.

About DISTRESS AND CRISIS ONTARIO

DCO is the provincial networking organization that supports and helps build and sustain the capacity of it's member organizations. MOVING FORWARD THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS symbolizes how distress centres and DCO view their role and relationship in the continuum of support, referral and mental health services offered to the people of Ontario.

We work diligently to meet the needs of our members and help them to develop the Distress Centre movement in Ontario.

Our success will be measured by our ability to forge and sustain new partnerships with agencies and organizations who share a similiar interest in improving the lives of those who face significant emotional and mental health issues.

Quick Facts

Information based on data collected by 5 of 14 centres:

• Number of calls received in 2020:  95,389
• ONTX interactions: 5,670 texts/chats
• Number of suicide-related calls:  4,000+
• Our callers keep coming back: 77% of callers are seeking ongoing support
• Almost half our calls are related to mental health status and interpersonal concerns
• The greatest interpersonal concern in 2020 was loneliness and solitude, often related to the pandemic
• 99.9% of our calls had positive outcomes
• Most callers this year were female in the 45 – 64-year age-range
• 33% of the ONTX users fall in the 15 - 24 year age-range

Our Major Projects

• On-line and Text Crisis Services (ONTX) - A free confidential online text and/or chat program to provide support for people experiencing emotional distress or crisis. The service is available from 2pm – 2am daily.
• SIOM (Statistics, Information Outcome Measures) - DCO is engaged in a project to compile stats from our member centres to produce an overall picture of the calls received by association members.
• Learning Forums - Offering on-line training and learning opportunities to staff and volunteers of our member centres.
• Crisis and Distress Worker Certification - Certificates issued after completion of training modules and series.
• Spirit of Volunteerism Recognition - Volunteers are the backbone of our member centres and DCO runs an ongoing program to show appreciation to those who selflessly give of themselves to help their communities.