St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton has teamed up with Mission Services for an initiative in the Gibson-Landsdale neighbourhood aimed at providing more access points to mental health services.
Ten businesses in the area have posted a sign in their window indicating that they are a mental health safe space.
Fiona Wilson, with St. Joe’s Mental Health and Addictions program explains it’s about opening the door to dialogue and potentially services if a person is in distress.
That’s why staff at participating locations have been trained by the project’s partners to recognize the signs and offer support.
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“Comfort them, potentially de-escalate and know who to call,” Wilson said.
Each business is equipped with a binder of contacts that range from St. Joseph’s community connectors, to police and the crisis response team.
In some situations Wilson says it may be as simple as relaying information so that a person can reach out themselves.
“It’s about people feeling more comfortable talking about what their needs are but also about people in the community being sensitive, being empathetic to what they’re seeing,” Wilson said.
Mary McGowan decided to make River Trading Company, a used book store on Barton Street East, a safe space.
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“People with issues, and you can sometimes tell already, are coming into our store so the training was helpful to me in being able to be more useful to them,” said McGowan.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation has provided a seed grant of $66,800 to get the one-year pilot project rolling.
The funds are being used to bring in community connector staff who will act as the liaison between the business encountering a resident in need of assistance and the services that can help.
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