Create a Healthy World Around You

Create a Healthy World
Around You

“It’s ok to feel scared. It’s ok to be worried.
It’s ok to have bad days. It doesn’t make us weak.
It makes us human.”

Dr Samra Zafar, leadership & wellness speaker

Mental Health Resources

Government of Canada

City of Toronto

eMentalHealth

Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences

Ontario Find Mental Health Supports

Canadian Mental Health Association

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Crisis Resources

Distress Lines:
When in need of someone to talk to. Operated by various agencies. Open 24 hours a day (unless otherwise indicated):

9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call or text 9-8-8
Toronto Distress Centres: 416 408-4357 or 408-HELP
Gerstein Centre: 416 929-5200
Spectra Helpline: 416 920-0497 or 905 459-7777 for Brampton and Mississauga residents
TTY: 905 278-4890; Languages: English, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, Portuguese
Assaulted Women’s Helpline: 416 863-0511; Toll-free: 1 866 863-0511
Kids Help Phone: 1 800 668-6868; Languages: English and French
Community Crisis Line Scarborough and Rouge Hospital: 416 495-2891 for 24/7 telephone crisis support
Durham Crisis and Mental Health Line: 905 666-0483
Distress Centre Halton: For residents of the Halton Region (Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville). Oakville: 905-849-4541; Burlington: 905-681-1488; Milton/Halton Hills: 905-877-1211

If you are in crisis, please visit your nearest Emergency Department or call 911.

Brave Beginnings

Brave Beginnings Charity

Founded by Samra, Brave Beginnings is a non-profit in the GTA that matches women who have escaped oppression with mentors who are empathetic and caring. Working together, women receive personal support, motivation, and friendship from their mentor to help rebuild their lives, reach their goals, and live with the respect, dignity, freedom, and happiness they deserve.

Domestic Abuse Resources

Toronto & the GTA

  • Assaulted Women’s Helpline24 Hour Crisis Line: 416-863-0511. Services offered in 154 languages. Provides counselling, emotional support, information and referrals to legal services and shelters.
  • Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape24 Hour Crisis Line: 416-597-8808. A grassroots, women-run collective working towards a violence-free world by providing anti-oppressive, feminist peer support to survivors of sexual violence through support, education and activism.
  • Interval House24 Hour Crisis Line: 1-888-293-5516. Helps women survivors of intimate partner violence and their children transform their lives and break the cycle of abuse.
  • YWCA Toronto - Emergency Shelter from Violence24 Hour Line: 416-929-3316 or 416-693-7342. Provides immediate safety and shelter for women and their children fleeing abuse.
  • Yorktown Shelter for Women24 Hour Crisis Line: 416-394-2999. Provides a supportive community-based emergency shelter and support services for women and their children who have experienced abuse.
  • Barbra Schlifer Clinic – 416-323-9149. Offers legal, counselling and interpretation services to marginalized populations of women who have survived violence.
  • Herizon House24-Hour Line: 1-866-437-4066. A shelter for abused women and their children in Ajax.
  • The Denise House24-Hour Crisis Line: 1-800-263-3725. A shelter for women and children in Oshawa.
  • YWCA Durham24-Hour Crisis Line: 1-888-576-2997. A shelter meeting the needs of women and their children in Durham Region who experience violence and abuse.
  • Bethesda House24-Hour Crisis Line: 1-800-338-3397. Provides secure Shelter, outreach services, woman-centered advocacy, education and support to women and children experiencing domestic abuse and all forms of violence.
  • Luke’s Place – 1-866-516-3116. Family law support and guidance on how to stay safer for abused women and their children.
  • Women’s Habitat of Etobicoke – 416-252-5829. Emergency shelter and outreach centre for women who have experienced violence.
  • Halton Women’s Place24-Hour Crisis Line: 905-332-7892. Provides shelter and crisis services for physically, emotionally, financially and sexually abused women and their dependent children.
  • Chantel’s Place at Mississauga Hospital – 905-848-7580 ext. 2548. Secure hospital wing that provides injury assessment and treatment and offers emotional support, counselling and medical and legal information
  • Victim Services of York Region24-Hour Line: 905-953-5363. Provides support services for victims of crime and trauma, including domestic abuse
  • Yellow Brick House24-Hour Crisis Line: 1-800-263-3247. Emergency shelter in York Region for abused women and children that also offers counselling services and a crisis line.

Ontario

  • Assaulted Women’s Helpline (Ontario-wide) – 24/7 Crisis Line: 1-866-863-0511. Services offered in 154 languages. Provides counselling, emotional support, information and referrals to legal services and shelters.
  • Legal Aid Ontario (Ontario-wide)– 1-800-668-8258. Anyone in Ontario who is experiencing domestic violence can get a free emergency two-hour consultation with a lawyer.
  • Family Law Education for Women (Ontario-wide) – Plain language legal information on women’s rights under Ontario family law available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language, and many formats.
  • Caledon/Dufferin Victim Services (Caledon/Dufferin County) – 24-Hour Crisis Line: 905-951-3838. Offers free, one-to-one, confidential assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to support individuals affected by crime and tragic circumstances.
  • My Friend’s House (Collingwood) – 24-Hour Crisis Line: 705-444-2511 or 1-800-265-2511. A safe haven for abused women and their children.
  • My Sister’s Place (London)– 24-Hour Crisis Line: 705-435-3835 or 1-800-461-5419. Shelter and transitional housing support and crisis hotline.
  • La Maison Rosewood Shelter (Midland) – 24-Hour Crisis Line: 705-526-4211 or 1-800-461-1750. An emergency shelter in Midland that provides support to abused and homeless women and their children.
  • Interval House Ottawa (Ottawa) – 24-Hour Crisis Line: 613-234-5181. Provides a safe place for women to create their future.
  • Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Clinic, Headwaters Health Care Centre (Orangeville) – 519-941-2702. Provides prompt, confidential and individualized care to victims of recent sexual assaults.
  • Crossroads Shelter (Peterborough/Haliburton) – 24-Hour Crisis Line: 1-800-461-7656. Provides 24 hour emergency shelter, meals and support for women and children fleeing abuse of any kind (physical, emotional, sexual or financial), 365 days a year.
  • Faye Peterson House (Thunder Bay) – 24-Hour Crisis Line: 807-345-0450. Provides a safe and supportive temporary shelter environment, crisis services, counselling, outreach, transitional support, advocacy, early childhood education, and support groups to women, youth and their children.
  • Hiatus House (Windsor) — 24-Hour Crisis Line: 519-252-7781. Provides crisis intervention services, an emergency shelter and therapy for abused women and their children.

Across Canada

Dr Samra Zafar, leadership & wellness speaker, drinking a cup of tea while reclining on a sofa