New Mindset On Mentally

Dealing with mental health crises in Mississauga has a new look as Peel police and health care professionals team up to find innovative ways to defuse volatile situations.

The new COAST (Crisis Outreach And Support Team) program implemented yesterday by Peel police, the Canadian Mental Health Association and Saint Elizabeth Health Care aims to keep people in crisis out of the criminal justice system and find them appropriate treatment in the community.

"As police officers we work with people with mental health illness on a daily basis," Health Fitness said Acting Deputy Chief Dan McDonald. "Most are not dangerous and have not committed any kind of crime.

"The police are usually the first responders to the needs of people in crisis and we become their helpers and their access to treatment and intervention. If left untreated we all know that mental health illness can have a devastating effect on the ill person, their family and their friends."

The program, which may expand to Brampton, will pair specially trained plain clothes officers with mental health workers available to respond to crisis calls every day from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.

"Not every mental health call requires a front line police officer to attend," said Const. Fiona Thivierge, Peel's mental health co-ordinator.

"What you need is someone with crisis intervention training. A trained mental health professional there can do an assessment at the residence and find the appropriate community agency or service to support them Health Fitness."

It offers options other than jail or a psychiatric facility for people needing care, she said.

"This will allow people to maintain their dignity and find appropriate treatment," said Thivierge, who also trains front line Peel officers in mental health awareness and crisis intervention in an intense three-day course, twice a year.

"It's a new mindset," she explained Health Fitness. "This is a more appropriate way to deal with these people. It's much more humane."

Shirlee Sharkey, president and CEO at Saint Elizabeth, agreed.

"It's a better approach to people who are suffering from a crisis situation," she said.

"Violence is not a typical reaction with a lot of people with mental illness. In fact, they become more reclusive and withdrawn.

"When there is a lack of understanding and there's fear and anxiety, anybody will react to that in a fearful way and with some violence. In this approach there'll be a better way of communicating and understanding, approaching the situation in a calm way, with a health professional working with the police.

"We hope that all around there will be a more peaceful intervention."

The program, modelled after existing projects in Hamilton and Halton, is funded in part by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

"People are going to be getting preventative support as well as crisis support while they're working through their crisis," said Sandy Milakovic of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Peel.