Chat Services On Their Way to Telecare

Telecare is taking a bold step into the future of emotional support by reintroducing chat services, offering a lifeline to those who need it most in a way that meets them where they are.

Why Offer Chat Services for Connection and Support?

To answer this question, we hear from Rod Janz, our coordinator for donors and public relations. Rod says, “I couldn’t ignore the fact that there is a significant unmet need, particularly among younger individuals, who are increasingly turning to digital platforms for connection and support. Young adults face huge pressures from social media that are contributing to staggering levels of depression and anxiety. We need to add chat services because young people require an approach that meets them where they are. We need to offer them timely and accessible solutions to help them navigate their complex mental health landscape."

Will Mature People Use Chat Too?

In short, yes! While it is true that young people prefer chatting or texting to phoning for emotional support, research indicates that individuals who use chat services come from across the lifespan. Why? Because not everyone loves the phone. The likelihood for older generations to use the phone is due in part to what they grew up with. People 70 and older only had the phone to communicate long distance electronically, and so it became mainstream in their generation. However, today young people have myriad ways to communicate (e.g., texting, chatting, messaging, emailing, posting, and the like).

What we sometimes forget is that a segment of the population—old and young alike—prefers to use non-intrusive means to talk about hard topics like mental health, relationships, and loneliness. There is something freeing when these difficult topics can be ‘talked’ about through the ‘cool’ medium of typing words on a screen rather than the ‘hot’ medium of a live voice-to-voice phone call with a call responder, no matter how skilled she or he may be. So, Telecare anticipates helping a lot more people, young and old, by adding chat to our phone service support.

Practical Step Moving Forward

Following the decision to proceed with chat services, the board laid out key steps to ensure success moving forward.

1. Secure a contract with a credible chat provider. (Done)
2. Attract donors to support the entire project (approximately $20,000 annually)
3. Test and customize the new system for Telecare (In progress)
4. Train staff and volunteers in digital support and tech protocol
5. Launch services for strategic hours when most likely used 
6. Launch campaign to alert the public that we offer this service

The goal is to have chat up and running by early March 2025.

Gather Together Everyone, It’s Training Time

Starting on January 29, 2025, people interested in training will gather in a video window to begin a 7-week course learning together. Between video meetings, they will read the curriculum and come ready to discuss it with others. We want to thank Keith McIntyre at the Peterborough (ON) Telecare for insights in how to set this up. It is geared to help participants persist, and  complete the training, and then serve online. This method also permits people from outside the lower Mainland of British Columbia to join us for training and then use our call forwarding system to take calls from anywhere in Canada.

We’re thrilled to expand our services and bring meaningful, accessible support to more people. To learn more about the next training session, click here.