Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

Nova Scotia

City/ Region:

Halifax

Description of Initiative:

The Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (MHMCT) is a partnered crisis support service involving Capital Health, IWK Health Centre, Halifax Regional Police and the Nova Scotia Department of Health. The crisis team includes mental health professionals and dedicated police officers who offer confidential, non-judgmental crisis support.

The MHMCT provides crisis support for children, youth and adults experiencing a mental health crisis. A mental health crisis could include thoughts of suicide, distorted or psychotic thinking, intense anxiety, overwhelming depression, or feeling unable to cope and out of control.

Initiative Key Objectives:

The objective is to provide intervention and short-term crisis management for children, youth and adults experiencing a mental health crisis. It offers telephone intervention throughout the Capital District and mobile response in areas served by Halifax Regional Police including Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford. The support is confidential, non-judgmental and respectful.

Section Responsible for Implementation:

Public Safety Office

Key Contact:

Sean Auld
aulds@halifax.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

  • other government departments/agencies
  • academic institutes (research and evaluation)

Level of Involvement (consultative - information sharing) and/or cooperative - direct involvement):

This is a cooperative co-response model for assisting people in a mental heralth crisis.

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

Since 2008.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

It was undertaken to create a more effective and efficient coordinated response to mental health issues.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

Costs associated with this are primarily the ongoing cost of human resources related to staffing the unit. We have a formal partnership with Halifax Regional Police and a memorandum of understanding (MOU). In the MOU the financial arrangement is outlined. The Capital Health Mental Health Program—through the Mobile Crisis Team budget, pays Halifax Regional Police annually for about half the cost of four full-time-equivalent police officers. These officers work full time with MHMCT and are embedded in the service. This is a co-response model of policing and mental health. In turn, Halifax Police provide the four officers and two unmarked vehicles, including gas and maintenance. As part of this partnership, MHMCT provides all mental health training to Halifax police—recruits (3.5 days), lateral hires (one day), Block training (2.5 hrs twice a week from January to May every four to five years) and CIT 40-hour intensive mental health training twice a year at no charge.

Method of Implementation:

Implementation was facilitated through an MOU signed by all partners. It began as three teams of officers/clinicians and expanded to four.

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

Key outcomes are to provide a coordinated response to mental health issues, reduce the number of police-related calls for mental health issues and reduce wait times in hospital emergency rooms. This initiative has met these outcomes.

The MHMCT conducts over 1000 interventions per month. On average, only 20-25% of referrals come from police. That means the MHMCT is intervening with the other 75-80% of referrals before they get to the stage of becoming involved in activity that requires police attention.

Availability of a Communication Strategy:

Yes

Key Messages used to Publicize the Initiative:

  • MHMCT supports families, friends, community agencies and others to manage mental health crises through education, outreach and consultation.
  • MHMCT is a partnered crisis support service of Capital Health, IWK Health Centre, Halifax Regional Police and the Nova Scotia Department of Health. The crisis team includes mental health professionals and dedicated police officers.

Forms of Evaluation by which the Initiative will be Assessed:

  • external
  • qualitative

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

Yes

Summary of the Outcomes:

The following outcomes have been observed:

  • shorter wait times at hospitals for mental health patients to be assessed;
  • an increase in people reaching out to the service;
  • a decrease in repeat users of the service; and
  • an increase in training for frontline police officers.

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

N/A

Economics of Policing Pillars:

Further Details:

N/A

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

N/A

Record Entry Date:

2013-08-01

Date modified: