Grey Bruce OPP, South Bruce OPP, and Grey Bruce Health Services have finalized a Mobile Crisis Response Team for the area.
It’s a community based, collaborative partnership that will see see clinicians from Grey Bruce Health Services stationed in local OPP detachments.
A release says, these clinicians will co-respond with police to calls for service involving crisis and mental health.
They say the workers will provide services including but not limited to de-escalation and short-term crisis intervention, safety planning and stabilization, referrals to appropriate services for long term support, and recovery-oriented interventions.
Police say, the partnership aims to achieve the following goals and objectives for persons in Grey Bruce and South Bruce who contact police when experiencing mental health and/or addiction crisis:
– Individuals experiencing crisis will have access to timely crisis assessments by a skilled mental health professional.
– Individuals will have access to available and most appropriate level of service, in their home/community environment thereby potentially diverting unnecessary presentations to the local Emergency Departments.
– Individuals experiencing crisis/difficulties will be stabilized within their communities whenever possible, and with coordinated care, will have fewer episodes requiring crisis intervention and/or contact with police services.
-Individuals experiencing crisis will have transitional supports provided and improved coordinated care through timely follow up contacts, support in the transfer of care with the hospital when required, and referrals to case management support.
-Following crisis assessment and intervention, individuals will have improved access to ongoing supports and services through identified care pathways, and transitional support.
-Individuals experiencing crisis may, whenever possible, be appropriately deferred from the criminal justice system.
– Potential for reduced hospital visits to both local and Schedule 1 hospitals for persons experiencing a mental health and/or addiction presentations
-Implementation of an evaluation process and quality improvement to achieve a high quality of service.
-Participation in research, education, and training opportunities to support the activities of the MCRT.
Police say, involved partners will continue working over the next few months towards the launch of the program, which is planned before the end of the year.
Elsewhere in the region, Owen Sound, Hanover and Saugeen Shores police, paramedics and emergency departments have taken part in a similar program that’s been running in recent years called the Mobile Mental Health & Addiction Response Team (MMHART) which is made possible with the help of local Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) staff.
