A support line launched in November has continued to be there for Yukoners who need someone to talk to over the holiday season.

The Yukon Distress and Support Line began taking calls last month thanks to numerous volunteers who came forward to help offer the service.

“We have a really great team,” said Hailey Hechtman, the planning, development and finance coordinator with the Second Opinion Society (SOS), said in an interview.

SOS has been overseeing the operation of the phone line with funding coming from the Bell Let’s Talk Community Fund, Northwestel Inc. and the Yukon government.

She’s pleased volunteers have taken time out of their schedules to ensure there is someone on the other end when calls come in, especially over the busy Christmas season.

It means the phone line will continue to be available, as it always is, each night from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Ten calls have come into the line after Christmas Eve, Hechtman said today.

Most were from people looking for support or feeling lonely over the holidays.

Hechtman stressed the support line is there to help those who simply need someone to talk to as well as those in crisis.

As she pointed out, having someone to talk to can go a long way to helping people deal with situations and possibly prevent a crisis down the road.

Two volunteers have been staffing the phones for each shift since the line went live on Nov. 24.

Before it was launched, the nearly 30 volunteers were trained to deal with the phone calls that could come in, Hechtman said.

Ongoing training, along with meeting with professionals on a monthly basis, will also be part of the ongoing support to volunteers.

Hechtman said the line has had “several calls” since it began.

Asked for an average, she noted it would likely be similar to the number of calls Nunavut’s distress line gets in an evening, at about four.

She noted it really varies night-to-night in both the number of calls and in what people are calling about.

Some, she said, are lonely and need another person to talk to while others are in crisis.

While SOS is always on the lookout for new volunteers for the phone line, Hechtman said the society is planning to organize training next spring for new volunteers for the line and as a refresher for current volunteers.

The phone line can be reached nightly at 1-844-533-3030.

Anyone looking to reach SOS about volunteer opportunities can email yukondistressline@gmail.com

The website for the distress line is at http://yukondistressline.weebly.com/