INUVIK - Maintaining a crisis hotline can be demanding, especially when you can only share the duty with two other people.

Doug Robertson has been a volunteer for the Inuvik crisis line for many years. He said that due to a lack of volunteers, the service is at risk of being dropped. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

That is the grim situation for the Inuvik crisis line.

Doug Robertson and two other volunteers share the duty of answering the line, which is connected to a cell phone.

The service began five years ago.

Then, there was a team of 20 people who were willing to listen.

Robertson said the volunteers were split into teams and each team would have a week with the phone, passing it around among them.

"We had six teams of three people and a few spares," he said.

"Nobody would have the line for more than three days at a time."

Because of the timing with the other teams, each person would only have the phone every six weeks or so.

Robertson said that in the last year, volunteers dwindled to himself and two others.

"It's not feasible to have the service offered with such a small amount of volunteers," he said.

The hours for the line are from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends.

Robertson said volunteering requires commitment, but more volunteers means less work for each person.

"If you had the phone, you could go a week without any calls, or have three or four calls," he said.

The sorts of calls that are received are from people in distress who need someone to talk to.

"The person may not be suicidal, they could just be depressed or lonely," said Robertson.

After training sessions, a volunteer is told to watch for levels of distress.

"There are infrequent but occasional suicidal individuals who use the line and I know that it has intervened a few attempts," said Robertson.

"I know it has saved a few lives and that is what the line is there for."

Robertson said the phone does not use call display, so that privacy comes first.

"All calls are confidential," he said.

While calling the police or an ambulance is always an option, Robertson said that getting the person to check themselves into the hospital is more likely.

The future of the line is up in the air.

"Right now, the line is in limbo," he said.

"With only three people on the line, burnout is an issue."

Only with the help of others in town can the service keep on helping others in need.

"If we get some interested people, we can have a training session and get started," he said.

Another volunteer who wished to remain anonymous said the line is a service that is needed in town, but more help is required.

"It can burn you out," she said. "We need more people to get involved if this is going to stay in service."