NEWS RELEASE
SOUTH SIMCOE POLICE
*************************
As part of their community safety and well-being strategy, the South Simcoe Police Service has launched a Mental Health Support Team (MHST) to help address the mental health calls the service receives.
Working under the umbrella of our Community Mobilization and Engagement Unit and in partnership with York Support Services Network (YSSN), the two-person mobile team consisting of a mental health crisis worker from 310-COPE and South Simcoe Police constable will attend to calls for service involving emotionally distressed persons suffering from mental health, dual diagnosis and/or addiction concerns in crisis.
Front-line patrol officers will continue to be the first responders to each 'person in crisis' call. The Mental Health Support Team will attend these calls to assist. They will help the front-line officers assess an individual’s mental health status and determine if there is a need for apprehension.
If such an apprehension occurs, the person in crisis will be transported to the hospital by the uniform patrol officer or ambulance; the crisis team will follow. On occasion, the Mental Health Support Team will be able to take over the call, freeing the officer up for other duties.
When not engaged in crisis calls, the team will engage in pro-active contact with persons known to go into crisis; the crisis worker will develop crisis management plans, provide resources and supports and follow-up with community services when needed.
“A recent three-year review of our MHST program with York Regional Police (which looked at over 1,600 mobile visits), funded by the Central Local Health Integration Network (CLHIN), demonstrated that 77 per cent of individuals in a crisis were supported on-scene and did not get transported to hospital and only 6 per cent of individuals were apprehended under the Mental Health Act,” said Jean West, mental health director for YSSN.
“That’s tremendously successful for the well-being of individuals in crisis, police time and costs to the healthcare system. We are very excited about the program’s
expansion into South Simcoe and our partnership with South Simcoe Police.”
Further, South Simcoe Police has been selected to assist the Canadian Society of Evidence Based Policing to collect data associated with the development of our MHST program.
“This is an exciting time for the South Simcoe Police Service,” said Deputy Chief Robin McElary-Downer. “I hope we will quickly see the benefits of this great program.”
The Mental Health Support Team has been active for about a week, and are expected to reduce the time front line officers spend on crisis calls and help connect individuals with mental health and/or addiction services and supports to reduce future crisis.
“About 2 per cent of all our calls for service are mental health calls,” said Police Constable Rich Williamson, media relations officer. “These calls can tie up officers for several hours. The addition of MHST will free our officers up to respond to other high priority calls and their proactive intervention may even reduce the number of crisis calls we receive.”
The South Simcoe Police Service appreciates the efforts of our community partners at York Support Services Network and the CLHIN for funding their involvement in the program.
*************************
