Dollars for crisis response in South Simcoe will stretch further than expected.
Back in October, the province unveiled $117,865 in funding for the South Simcoe Police Service to help support people who are experiencing a mental-health or addiction crisis.
Initially, the grant was set to cover about 1,820 hours of support — though a diligent and collaborative approach with York Support Services Network and Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Simcoe County will push its coverage up by an additional 400 hours.
That added coverage was announced by dignitaries and police officials at the department’s North Division station in Innisfil on May 3.
Within the department’s jurisdiction of Bradford and Innisfil, the Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST) program sends a specially trained, plainclothes officer and a mental-health crisis worker to these specialized calls.
The crisis worker is then able to determine the best course forward for the individual in need, whether that's hospital treatment or help through other community services.
“This grant will help us meet the growing need,” Police Chief John Van Dyke said. “Working together to de-escalate situations and provide mental-health support, this program is essential to help persons in crisis navigate support systems. We are grateful to be included in the recipients of this funding, which will enhance the crucial role of COAST.
"This funding matters. This funding is crucial," he added. "The work this partnership does makes a difference every day by ensuring those in need are guided toward supports they need and deserve.”
South Simcoe police officers responded to 688 crisis calls within the last year, Van Dyke said.
“We're truly in a mental-health and opioid crisis,” said CMHA branch chief executive officer Dr. Valerie Grdisa, recalling the time she spent years ago working as a mobile crisis response nurse in downtown Toronto. "It was a very different program back then.
"(These funds) have really, truly responded to the needs of our community in a way where we can optimize the expertise ... to respond to people where they're at," she added. "We are doing a lot of analysis right now on the impact of doing those assessments ... and avoiding hospital admissions. It's so critical we continue to invest in community interventions. Not everybody needs residential or hospital-based care — what they need is the right level of service."
The province is allocating more than $4.5 million to similar teams across 39 municipal and First Nations police services, as well as the OPP, in 2023-24.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP Andrea Khanjin called this money a “critical investment.”
“The funding will build on the great work South Simcoe police (do) to help the community at-large when it comes to complex situations," she said. "This is our provincial government's way of responding to a huge need that's out there.
"We need to work as a whole ecosystem," the MPP added. "For our health-care system to be successful, for our law-enforcement system to be successful, we all have to work together. Mental health is a big piece of that.”
