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Mental Health and Wellness Supports During the COVID-19 and Coronavirus Outbreak

Mental Health and Wellness Supports During the COVID-19 and Coronavirus Outbreak

Please note: The information provided in this tipsheet is for reference only. It is not intended as a recommendation or endorsement of organizations, news sources, agencies or private businesses, or as a comprehensive resource list. 

Based on when you are viewing this tipsheet, the information may not be the most up to date. Please refer to the date this tipsheet was last updated, at the end of the document. You can also access this tipsheet online at  hollandbloorview.ca/covid-19-tipsheets 

This tipsheet provides a listing of active mental health service providers and family mental health and wellness supports. Meditation and mindfulness apps and websites offering both free and fee-based content may also support the entire family during this uncertain time.

*If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please go to your nearest hospital emergency department.*

Family Mental Health and Wellness Supports

Family

Children

Live Counselling for Children:

  • Kids Help Phone: Provides counselling via phone, text and live chat to children and youth and parents. Online resources also available. 24hrs per day support. Contact Number: 1-800-668-6868.
  • What’s Up Walk-In: Counselling platform varies by location. Please check the website to learn more about what is offered at the service provider nearest you. Contact Number varies by service provider.
  • Gerstein Crisis Centre:Provides crisis intervention to individuals  older than 16 years in Toronto. Contact Number: 416-929-5200.
  • LGBT Youth Line – online peer support by and for people 29 and  under. Contact number: 1-800-268-9688 or text 647-694-4275.

Teens

  • BounceBack Ontario: A Cognitive Behavioural Therapy based skill-building program created by the Canadian Mental Health Association for individuals ages 15+ available with online videos.
  • Mindfulness for Teens: Mindfulness training resources offered by a pediatrician connected to BC Children’s Hospital and University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine.

Adults

  • Big White Wall: Provides online resources for mental health, also moderated by trained professionals 24/7.
  • Progress Place’s warmline for adults 18+: Chat online, text or call a Warm Line peer support worker if you feel lonely, isolated, anxious, depressed or in need of a friendly ear.
  • Gerstein Crisis Centre:Provides crisis intervention to individuals  older than 16 years in Toronto. Contact Number: 416-929-5200.
  • Healing in Colour: offers a directory of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colur) therapists who are committed to supporting BIPOC in all our intersections.
  • Wellnest: a therapeutic space that holds, acknowledges and honours the difference in backgrounds and aims to provide culturally, spiritually and linguistically appropriate services.
  • Virus Anxiety: Care for your Coronavirus Anxiety: Resources for anxiety and mental health in uncertain times.

Indigenous Health

Helpful Meditation and Mindfulness Apps and Websites

  • Calm: Free supports and 10-minute meditations live streamed on Mondays and Fridays on Facebook and Youtube. An app is also available. 
  • Cosmic Kids: A free 14-day trial yoga and mindfulness app for children. A Youtube channel is also available.
  • Headspace: Offering free “Weathering the Storm” content geared towards children and adults through a website and app. There is free and purchasable content in the app version. Headspace for Kids is also available here.
  • Insight Timer: A free app targeting anxiety and stress relief.
  • Mindful Powers: A free app that introduces mindfulness for children, with some purchasable content.
  • Smiling Mind: A free body scanning and mindfulness app for children and adults.
  • Three Good Things: A Happiness Journal: A free App to encourage children and adults to journal about moments that increase happiness. 
  • Virtual Forest Therapy Walks: guided virtual walks are opportunities to connect to others, self, and nature.

Additional Mental Health Supports 

  • Assaulted Women’s Health Line: A 24-hr crisis counselling line for women in crisis or domestic situations. Contact Number: 1-866-863-0511.
  • Distress Centres of Greater Toronto: A 24-hour crisis and distress line, which offers emotional support, crisis intervention, suicide prevention and linkage to emergency help if necessary. Contact Number: 416-408-HELP (4357).
  • Telehealth Ontario: Nurses will provide answers to health-related questions with the appropriate care via telephone, or will connect you to an appropriate health professional. Contact Number: 1-866-797-0000.
  • The 519’s Emotional Self Care Resources: Resource guides for LGBTQ2S communities in different languages.

This tipsheet belongs to a set of specialized resources for the COVID-19 and Coronavirus outbreak period. If you are looking for other family resources that have to do with childhood disability, please visit www.hollandbloorview.ca/resourcecentre

Created by the Social Workers and Family Support Specialists at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital on April 1, 2020.  Updated March 22, 2021 and April 20, 2022.  If you have a question or a resource to share, please feel free to reach out to us at resourcecentre@hollandbloorview.ca