Shelburne mental health group shuts down due to volunteer burnout, chair says

A mental health non-profit organization in southwest Nova Scotia is shutting down because the volunteers running it are burned out, according to an administrator.

The Shelburne County Mental Health and Wellness Association was created 10 years ago to raise awareness of mental illness and advocate for better services in the area.

"It seems that all of the organizations I've volunteered with or interacted with have the same story — too few people doing too many things," said Kevin Grant, chairman of the association's board of directors.

Grant said the association was facing a shortage of volunteers. He said those who were helping spent most of their time applying for grants to help them continue operating. 

"That takes up a lot of time and it's not really what we signed up for," he said. "We wanted to help with mental health, raise awareness and we wanted to help improve the services here in Shelburne County."

During its operation, Grant said the organization also provided mental health first-aid training to community members, hosted social gatherings and raised awareness of existing services. 

The most significant initiative the association launched was the Nova Scotia Warm Line, he said. The toll-free number offered people struggling with their mental health to talk to someone and later expanded to support seniors during the pandemic.

Grant said the association has connected all of the seniors using the phone service with a similar initiative out of Ontario called A Friendly Voice.

'It's sad'

One official in the area believes the loss of the phone service will create an even bigger void in the area when it comes to mental health support.

Louann Link, a town councillor for Clarks Harbour, N.S., lost her son, Jevon, to suicide in 2021.

"It's sad," said Link. "I'm a VON nurse. I've heard different clients who have used that warm line who don't have anybody [to talk to]."

She said she believes her son died because there weren't the proper services in the region to help him while his mental health was deteriorating.

"I mean, when you're in crisis, you can't wait six weeks," she said. "We need someone that is there [in the community]."

Since her son died, Link has tried to prevent others in the community from losing a loved one.

She started the Let Your Let Shine Jevon Link Society to help others talk about their mental heath and became a safe talk trainer to help people recognize signs of depressive and suicidal thoughts.

On a larger-scale, Link said she would love to see a temporary-care facility, or what she calls "safe houses," in southwest Nova Scotia, where someone struggling with their mental health could go for help and supervision. 

"I think that would probably help a lot of people and maybe save lives," she said.