Police are dealing with more and more mental-health calls, so the department has been giving its officers, special constables who worked at the courthouse and dispatchers another tool in their belt with crisis intervention training.
All this week, a small group has been taking part in numerous crisis intervention training sessions at Mapleview Community Church in the city's south end through a partnership between the Barrie Police Service and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).
It includes a variety of community resource groups, including the CMHA, coming in to speak about what they offer and has to access them, as well as a psychiatrist to talk about specific disorders and symptoms. The sessions also include role plays using possible scenarios they may come across and how to respond.
Topics covered during the week include dementia and Alzheimer's, suicide awareness, the Community Outreach and Support Team (COAST), autism and psychosis.
"We also have a lot of people who have lived experience who are coming in to share their story with us, which has really helped to reduce the stigma around mental-health illnesses," Sgt. Toni Talarico told BarrieToday. "To listen to somebody with that lived experience, it really hits home to officers and gives a better understanding of a specific disease."
The course is designed to broaden their knowledge of mental illness, including how to access local resources in the community.
The training is not mandatory, but the police department's aim is to have everyone trained, with more people taking the course each year, Talarico said. Since the training began in 2011, she said 195 officers have graduated from the program.
"Officers receive training right from the start with how they should be speaking and engaging people, whether they have a mental illness or they don't," she said. "We come across individuals daily who do struggle from mental-health issues, and really this course allows them to fine-tune their skill set in the way they communicate, engage and understand people with mental-health issues."
Talarico said it has been well-received over the years because it has given officers a different viewpoint.
Kerry Dault, program manager for crisis services with the CMHA who's involved with the training, agreed with that assessment.
The common denominator among officers was that they appreciated learning more about community services they can direct people toward or who to call, while also learning more about mental-health and addiction issues, Dault said.
"It also helps police to feel more confidence about how to approach certain individuals, dependent upon their mental-health," she added. "Most officers, after they've done this program, actually want to know more. It really spurs education and it helps the officers to feel more confident about the people they're dealing with."
The growing awareness around mental-health issues is "amazing," said Dault, adding Barrie police have access to CMHA crisis services around the clock.
"We have short-term crisis beds and they can access those any time of day," she said. "So they could call us at 3 a.m. and bring that person to us and we would assess and see if they're OK to be with us. (That happens) regularly, almost every day."
The local police-CMHA partnership began several years ago following research into cases in the news where officers didn't have the right approach to a situation, Dault said, relating to use of force.
"I think it all ties in together," she said. "So now, when you know how to deal with something and you know what it is you're dealing with, you're less apt to react in a way that's not appropriate."
Mental-health calls are becoming more regular, with anywhere from two and 10 calls per day having a mental-health component, the two agencies have also been working together with COAST. The new program that sees an officer in plainclothes working alongside a CMHA crisis worker. They respond to calls in an unmarked vehicle where mental health is involved, however it's only currently utilized during the week with daytime and evening shifts.
The COAST team helps officers at a scene in speaking to the individual involved.
"It's a good support for our front-line officers," Talarico said. "If they're dealing with a person and they're exhibiting some struggles with a mental-health issue, they'll call on our COAST to come and provide prolonged police and CMHA support. Then that officer can be available for other calls."
Having the officer in plain clothes serves a distinct purpose.
"Sometimes there's a bit of an intimidation (factor) with the uniform," said Talarico, adding the officer does still carry their use-of-force options for safety purposes.
COAST responds to several types of calls, Dault said.
"It could be anything," she said. "It could be somebody who is downtown and maybe there's an individual with symptoms of psychosis, so they're acting bizarrely or they're confused and need some support.
"It could be somebody's who's homeless and doesn't know what's out there (for services), who needs somebody to intervene to help them," Dault added. "It could be a family with a child who's having anxiety or depression, maybe suicide thoughts, to know how to guide and direct that family to the help they need."
