Editorial | Changing how we respond to mental health crisis calls

It’s a response as well to the growing demand for mental health services that was overwhelming the police and hospital emergency rooms. In 2021, the Toronto police, for example, responded to more than 35,000 calls to 911 for “person in crisis.”

Of course, the real goal is to reduce the number of people in crisis and help connect individuals with community resources. Here, crisis workers made more than 700 referrals for follow-up support and enrolled 28 per cent of individuals for post-crisis case management. The program is currently operating in four parts of Toronto — areas identified with the highest need — covering about 60 per cent of the city. The early success has led to calls for an immediate expansion of the program city-wide. Those calls are understandable and signal an embrace of the program.

Campbell expects to recommend to council in October that it be expanded city-wide. That would be a welcome step. She hopes some of that expansion can happen next year, contingent on council’s approval. Expansion will require enlisting additional community organizations as partners, hiring and training new staff. Dispatch functions need to be streamlined and other organizational details of the fledgling program need to be sorted. The evaluation of the first six months lay out some recommendations to further improve the service. The Toronto budget for 2023 contains additional funding needed to prepare for that expansion.

Source: Healthcare Press (healthcarepress.net)

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