New mental health response team aims to save lives in Vernon

Vernon has launched a new Mobile Integrated Crisis Response team made up of police officers and mental health professionals to deal with sensitive mental health and substance use crises.

The new crisis support team, formerly known as a Car Team, was created both to help people in crisis and to free police up resources to fight crime.

Healthcare workers will now assist in providing immediate support and mental health assessments to those in crisis and will connect people with local resources for ongoing help.

“I am so grateful that those in crisis due to mental health challenges will now be met with care and compassion from trained mental health professionals in their greatest time of need,” Harwinder Sandhu, MLA for Vernon-Monashee, said in a press release issued today, Dec. 1. “With the new (crisis response) team in Vernon, individuals in crisis will be met with comprehensive care and a clear path to the support they need.”

The initiative is a collaboration between Vernon law enforcement and local health services. The new teams were designed to increase community safety by ensuring a quick and care focused response to mental health emergencies, which have in the past been handled by police. 

In BC, one in five one in five interactions with police involve someone with a mental health disorder.

“When people are in distress because of a mental health emergency and they call police we need to take the right steps to provide them with the care they need to stay safe and meet them where they are at,” Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said in the release.

This new team is part of a wider initiative taking place across BC, with the provincial government investing $3 million in nine teams across the province.

Currently, there are teams operating in Kamloops, Kelowna, Prince George, Fort St. John, Richmond, Surrey, Vancouver, Nanaimo and Victoria, and on the North Shore.

“People experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis should be met with support and compassion,” Susan Brown, president and CEO for Interior Health, said in the release. “Our ultimate goal is to foster an inclusive, supportive and understanding environment, where individuals who struggle with mental health or substance use feel empowered to seek help and compassion without fear of judgment or stigma.”

The creation of crisis response teams is also part of the province’s Safer Communities Action Plan and the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions’ $1 billion investment to expand access to mental-health and addictions care.

More information can be found on the BC government website here.

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