
About Us

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Distress Centre Halton is a non-profit charitable organization that provides telephone support to people 365 days of the year. We are a unique service in that we train volunteers for front-line work providing emotional support and befriending to people in distress or crisis.
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Our service improves the health and wellness of people in our community and the quality of life of those who are feeling alone, isolated, and vulnerable.
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Distress Centre Halton has a volunteer Board of Directors, 5 full-time staff and 3 part-time staff. We have 2 locations in Oakville and Georgetown. Currently we have approximately 200 volunteers between the two Centres.

Our Services

Our Team
Staff
Dara Eisner Clancy - Executive Director
Mark Howarth - Senior Manager, Administration & Operations
Kathleen Legaspi, BSW, RSW - Senior Manager, TeleCheck Program
Linda Jaklich - Supervisor, Calendar & Shift Management
Victoria Bello - Coordinator, Volunteer Services
Rose Ford - Donor Management & Communications
Lauren Anastasi - Community & Volunteer Engagement, Hamilton
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And our 200+ trained volunteers.
Board
Gail Cartwright - Chair
Richard Darjes - Treasurer
Craig Redick
Feeroza Suchak
Izabela Kvesic
Jodi Dwyer
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Eric Hotson - Special Advisor to the Board
Florence Fiorino - Special Advisor to the Board
Kristin Madarasz - Social Media Advisor
Annual General Meeting Reports | AGM 2016/2017 | AGM 2017/2018 | AGM 2018/2019 AGM 2019/2020 | AGM 2020/2021 | AGM 2021/2022 | AGM 2022/2023

Our History

Distress Centre Halton is an amalgamation of 3 small Centres that originated in the 1970s – Distress Centre Oakville, Distress Centre North Halton, and Telecare Burlington. In April 2019 the Centres legally amalgamated and officially became Distress Centre Halton.
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Originally, volunteers answered the phone lines on Friday and Saturday nights only. As the demand for the service grew, the hours were extended to 24/7, 365 days of the year. In 2022 we responded to 33,622 conversations.​