Ontario: “London Public Library Mental Helpers Booking Big Numbers”

From The London Free Press:

A novel pilot project that places mental health workers in London’s Central Library has been swamped with people seeking help.
“I thought it would take a little while to take off and it took no time at all, right from the get-go. We have not stopped,” Crystal McKellar, a wellness worker at Canadian Mental Health Association Middlesex, said.
“From the minute we open up to when we go home, we are lucky to get lunch.”
The response has proven that public libraries are a key place for reaching people, McKellar said.
“There are very few locations throughout our city that are community based now, and this is one place that anybody can go to. That’s a big piece of it.”
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It’s not certain how novel the project is in Ontario.
The Mississauga library system began a pilot project in August that placed a homelessness outreach worker in its central branch.
Library systems in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Kitchener have hired social workers.

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Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries