About Us
History
40 years of care and compassion.
While the volume of calls, the look and the name have changed in 40 years, Distress Centre’s deeply rooted belief in volunteerism and partnership has not faltered. Our core values of 24 hour, non-judgmental, free, accessible support remain unchanged, and we are poised to respond for decades to come.
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1970
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On April 14th, the Drug Information Centre opened its doors with the goal of providing unbiased drug information and education, crisis intervention and research anytime, day or night. In the first year of operation, The volunteers responded to 3,837 calls and 1,724 drop-ins.
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1973
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The Centre began to shift from purely drug related calls to a dual emphasis on crisis and addictions.
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1975
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The 24 hour crisis line was launched. With the introduction of crisis intervention services, the City of Calgary became one of the principle funders.
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1977
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The Drug Information Centre changed its name to Distress Centre/Drug Centre and was accepted as a member of the United Way.
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1983
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Teen Line was established to provide the youth of Calgary with a place to call that was specifically focused on their needs. This service was the first of its kind in Canada.
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1990
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Throughout the ‘90s, call volumes on the crisis lines grew by staggering numbers every year. The Distress Centre sought new avenues to secure additional sources of funding to meet the demands.
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1999
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Distress Centre continued to experience tremendous growth as we introduced several new programs and partnerships. These included partnerships with mobile teams such as the Mobile Response Team.
This paved the way for our current structure of effective partnerships and further established Distress Centre as an innovative leader in the community.
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2005
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Distress Centre, along with the City of Calgary and United Way, launched 211. This further established Distress Centre as the hub of crisis support and the “go-to” place for community referrals in Calgary.
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2009
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Due to the recession, all program areas noted the increase in complexity of issues as well as the increase in the severity of risk. To respond to the increased need, Distress Centre began to leverage social data from 211 to help with mapping issues in communities throughout the city, develop programs in areas of need, and targeting assistance to the hardest hit populations.
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2010
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Distress Centre's 40th Anniversary. The refreshed brand made its debut, along with the simplification of the crisis line services. Distress Centre consolidated to one memorable crisis line number 403-266-HELP (4357). The promotion of this number aims at reducing confusion of what line to call, so that people are getting help when they are in crisis, rather than searching for a number.
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2012
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Last year, Distress Centre responded to 76,027 crisis calls, chats and emails. 54,203 information and referral calls were received on 211. Our counselling team delivered 2,024 counselling sessions.
While the volume of calls, the look and the name have changed in 40 years, Distress Centre’s deeply rooted belief in volunteerism and partnership has not faltered. Our core values of 24 hour, non-judgmental, free, accessible support remain unchanged, and we are poised to respond for decades to come.
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counselling
Not all problems can be solved over the phone. In fact, a call is often just the
first step in overcoming crisis.
To help with more complex issues, we have a team of...
Read More
resources
There are hundreds of agencies and organizations that are dedicated to helping people
in crisis.
With so many options finding the one that’s best suited...
Read More