Police are the default frontline responders to crisis events in B.C., and it’s those calls that end up, the most deadly.
“There is no question that the many many if not the majority of our cases in particular the officer-involved shooting cases involve persons who are in crisis or suffering from some form of mental or health wellness issue,” said Ron MacDonald, chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO).
“One has to wonder, are we doing it the right way here in Canada?”
As an alternative to policing, Victoria’s ‘Peer-Assisted Crisis Teams’ have been promised, and are now set to launch at the end of August.
“These are peer-led teams of people with lived experience and those with mental health training,” said Victoria city councillor Sarah Potts.
According to Potts, the peer teams will work cooperatively with the police but will be separate from them.
The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) holds the contract for rolling out Victoria’s peer-led response. They say the formation of the teams is being prepared along a similar line to the CAHOOTS program launched in Eugene Oregon.
In Victoria, the teams responding to mental health calls will be made up of a peer, with lived mental health problems who has received care in the system, and a mental health worker.
“Folks have got to trust these teams, you’ve got to test them out in the community and that will happen in the latter part of the summer,” said Jonny Morris with CMHA.
While they are working with E-Comm, CMHA says right now it’s unknown if the calls will go through emergency dispatch or a separate phone line.
Meanwhile, mental health advocates say while separating mental health calls from police jurisdiction is a good thing, it won’t do anything to reduce pressure on B.C.’s emergency services and health care system.
“I saw that Republican states fund [24/7 drop-ins] very heavily. It’s because it saves money,” said Amy Allard, co-founder of See Spring Mental Wellness Coalition. “You’re not paying for police hours sitting at the ER, or sitting at the bridge, or in a crisis, you’re not using up doctors’ or nurses’ time, or precious beds at the hospital.”
Allard says in addition to the mobile peer-led crisis response teams, there should be a peer-led drop-in facility that is situated near the hospital, which offers the community an alternative for those in crisis who don’t need medical support. In addition, she’s advocating for what’s called a ‘warm line’ instead of a crisis line.
“The difference is you can talk openly about feeling suicidal without fear of repercussions on your life,” said Allard. “Those models are shown to be much more effective at catching people upstream, as opposed to waiting until they’re in a full-blown crisis and there’s nothing but a hospital bed.”
Kori Sidaway
