Mental Health Support
ACTRA Members
HAVEN Helpline
A national, bilingual incident report and counselling support line available to members of ACTRA, DGC (Directors Guild of Canada, and Equity (Canadian Actor’s Equity Association).
Telephone 24/7: 1-855-201-7823
Chat 24/7: Lifeworks App (more info here)
Members and Family Assistance Program (MFAP)
(Available to members who have Bronze, Silver or Gold level benefits through AFBS.)
Operators can connect you to counselling and other support services. Tell the operator you have access to the MFAP through AFBS. You will need to provide your ACTRA number and date of birth.
Telephone 24/7: 1-844-880-9142
TTY: 1-800-363-6270 (English) / 1-800-263-8035 (French)
Online Resources:
workhealthlife To access site, enter “AFBS (Actra Fraternal Benefits Society)” when prompted.
Depression and the pandemic – a deep dive
Mental Illness and Relationships
CRISIS SUPPORT and HELPLINES
The Gerstein Crisis Centre can help callers who are experiencing a mental health crisis to work out some effective ways of addressing their immediate problems and connect them to services that can offer ongoing support. | Telephone 24/7: 416-929-5200 | |
Canada’s oldest volunteer delivered crisis, emotional support and suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention service agency. Services are available via hotline, online chat, and text. They also offer face-to-face individual and group support, as well as counselling to survivors who have lost someone to suicide or homicide. | Telephone 24/7: 416 408-4357 or 408-HELP | |
National, dedicated crisis and suicide phone and text service. Live Phone and Text is a safe, confidential, one-on-one conversation with a highly-trained empathic responder. | Telephone 24/7 (toll free): 1 833-456-4566. | |
National support service which offers professional counselling, information and referrals and volunteer-led, text-based support to young people in both English and French. | Telephone 24/7: 1-800-668-6868 | |
Confidential helpline providing professional counselling and information and referrals for mental health, addictions and well-being to post-secondary students in Ontario, with a primary focus on students aged 17 to 25. | Telephone 24/7: 1-866-925-5454 | |
Peer support hotline run by and for trans and gender non-conforming persons. Hotline is US based but services Canada and the US. | Telephone: 1-877-330-6366 | |
National helpline for black youth and their families. | Telephone (9a-10p ET): 416-285-9944 or 1-833-294-8650 Email: info@blackyouth.ca Website: | |
Fem’aide offre aux femmes d’expression française aux prises avec la violence sexiste, du soutien, des renseignements et de l’aiguillage vers les services appropriés dans leur collectivité 24 heures par jour, sept jours par semaine. Fem’aide peut également répondre aux demandes de renseignements faites par les proches des femmes victimes de violence. | ||
A support line of 2SLGBTQ+, trained, volunteer peer supporters. Youthline offers support to youth in Ontario via phone, text, and online chat during the evenings. | Telephone (6p-9p ET): 1-800-268-9688 Text (4p – 9:30 p ET): 647-694-4275 Email: askus@youthline.ca Website: | |
A volunteer, telephone support service for 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, and their families and friends. | ||
A 24/HR, 7 days a week help line for Indigenous folks across Canada in need of immediate mental health counselling and crisis intervention. | Telephone: 1-855-242-3310 Website: | |
A safe space to talk, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. | ||
A 24/7 support, crisis and referrals resource for Indigenous women, by Indigenous women, all across Ontario. Talk4Healing offers support in the following languages: Oji-Cree, Cree, Algonquin, Inuktitut, Mohawk, Oneida, Odawa, Potawatomi, Micmac, Black Foot, Anishinaabe, Moose Cree, Swampy Cree, English |
COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTRES
A Community Health Centre for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples (status or non-status and their families), that offers both Western and Traditional care. | Website: | |
The Al & Malka Green Artists’ Health Centre is a facility in the Family and Community Medicine Program at Toronto Western Hospital. The Centre specializes in addressing the specific healthcare needs of artists. Services include acupuncture, chiropractic medicine, craniosacral, massage and shiatsu therapy, MBCT group programs, naturopathic medicine, physiotherapy, and psychotherapy. Through the Joysanne Sidimus Fund, services are subsidized for artists in financial need. | ||
Planned Parenthood is a pro-choice community health centre that offers sexual health, mental health, and primary care services to youth. | ||
A Community Health Centre for racialized women living in Toronto and surrounding municipalities. Our primary health care team of highly skilled health care professionals specialize in the health and wellness needs of racialized women and prioritizes those from African, Caribbean, Latin American and South Asian communities. | Website: | |
A Community Health Centre TAIBU provides primary health care and related services for Black populations across the Greater Toronto Area as its priority population and residents of the local community of Malvern. | Website: |
OTHER SUPPORT SERVICES
Downtown Toronto community agency providing a range of programs and services to LGBTQ2S communities in Toronto and beyond. | ||
Community health clinic that provides mental health and addiction services for racialized communities living in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) within an anti-racism, anti-Black racism and anti-oppression framework. | Website: www.acrossboundaries.ca | |
The Black Health Alliance is a community-led registered charity working to improve the health and well-being of Black communities in Canada. | Website: | |
The Community and Senior Care team at Woodgreen supports individuals to participate fully in their community and age independently through a variety of programs | ||
The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto provides culturally centred services and programs to support the health and economic, social, cultural wellbeing of Indigenous people. | Website: | |
The Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto offers housing, family, employment, advocacy, and youth programming for Aboriginal women and their children in the Greater Toronto Area. | Website: | |
Free mental health and support services for youth and adults ages 16 to 29 in the Greater Toronto Area. |
SEXUAL ASSAULT/GENDER BASED /DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – Primary Care
Chantal’s place offers acute medical care, forensic and/or counselling services for survivors of recent sexual assault. Clients are admitted through the Mississauga Hospital site Emergency Department. | Telephone (non-urgent inquiries): 905-848-7580 ext. 2548 Website: https://www.trilliumhealthpartners.ca/patientservices/womens/Chantels-Place/Pages/default.aspx | |
The DASA Care Centre of York Region provides free care for victims/survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault including emergency care following abuse or an assault, examination, testing, follow-up care, counselling, and other services as needed. | ||
This care center offers a comprehensive service that assists people over the age of 14, who are victims/survivors of sexual assault and domestic/intimate partner violence. |
SEXUAL ASSAULT/GENDER BASED /DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – Other Supports
A free, anonymous and confidential 24-hour crisis and support telephone line to all women in the province of Ontario who have experienced any form of abuse. | ||
Up to 8 free counselling sessions for male survivors of sexual assault for folks aged 16+ and living in Ontario. | Telephone: 416 595 9618 Website: | |
The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) is a network of sexual assault centres across Ontario that offer counselling, information and support services to survivors of sexual violence, including childhood sexual abuse and incest. This Coalition is not a crisis service. | ||
The TRCC/MWAR)DASA is grassroots collective run by women and non-binary people who offer peer support to survivors of gender-based or sexualized violence. | Website: |
ONLINE RESOURCES & APPS
Website: | ||
An interactive flow chart for people who struggle with self-care, executive dysfunction, and/or who have trouble reading internal signals. It’s designed to take as much of the weight off of you as mucha as possible, so each decision is very easy and doesn’t require much judgment. | ||
Free resources for adults and youth 15+ experiencing low mood, depression, and anxiety. Includes online videos on managing mood, sleeping better, building confidence, increasing activity, problem solving, and healthy living. There is also a guided self-help program for managing depression and anxiety, using telephone coaching workbooks. | Website: | |
A documentary film that discusses mental health within the Black community. It chronicles and testifies the stories of five individuals on their trials and triumphs with mental health. Produced and directed by ACTRA Toronto member, Stacy-Ann Buchanan. | Website: | |
Campaign to support BC motion picture workers and their families, reduce the stigma related to mental health and substance use, and increase awareness of available services and benefits. Created by the BC Film Sector Unions – IATSE 891, ICG 669, Teamsters 155, UBCP/ACTRA and DGC BC, their associated Health Benefit plans and coordinated by the British Columbia Council of Film Unions. |
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
A helpline and website that provides information on and referrals to Ontario’s community, social, health-related and government services. Interpretation available in over 150 languages. | Telephone 24/7: 211 (2-1-1) | |
Distress lines available in Toronto | ||
Distress lines available across Ontario | ||
Crisis Resources list |