The Guelph Police Service, along with the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington, is hoping to find funding that will allow its IMPACT program to be available 24/7.
The Integrated Mobile Police and Crisis Team (IMPACT) is comprised of six full-time and one part-time specially trained mental health clinicians that operate out of Guelph police headquarters.
Alongside police officers, they attend a variety of calls that are related to mental health, addictions and people in crisis.
The goal is to ensure those in need have better health outcomes by receiving a more appropriate response. The police service said it has resulted in less intrusive service interventions and reducing the need for a trip to the hospital.
As of March 31, IMPACT has served 1,349 individuals and attended 723 calls for service this year, police said. Among the calls, 503 of them were diverted from hospitals.
However, IMPACT is only available from 8 a.m. to midnight.
In a presentation to the Guelph Police Services Board on Thursday, officials pitched their goal of expanding the program to be available 24/7.
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Data provided shows mental health calls in Guelph have increased 28 per cent in the last four years and the expectation is that will continue to increase.
The increase in calls has led to an increase in people going to the hospital for treatment. Diverting people away from the emergency room has decreased by 50 per cent in the past four years.
Helen Fishburn, the CEO of the local branch of the CHMC, said its mental health and addiction referrals are up across the board, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is our new normal,” she said during the board meeting. “This is the amount of need that we’re seeing in our community, and through the pandemic and post-pandemic, we’re not anticipating that number is going to drop significantly.”
The CMHC and the service presented two options for expanding IMPACT.
Option A calls for hiring another seven crisis response co-ordinators at an annual cost of just under $850,000, while Option B calls for hiring another 13 at an annual cost of just over $1.5 million.
With the first option, it’s expected to divert 2,100 people away from the emergency room annually and save the hospital $2.5 million per year.
The second option would divert 3,000 people away from the emergency room and save the hospital $3.6 million.
With current staffing, they are diverting just 1,050 people away and saving $1.26 million.
Fishburn said expanding the program needs not only the backing of the police board, but also local politicians to find funding.
“We have a great opportunity now with this deep dive that we have done with the Guelph Police Service to take this information and go further into our advocacy efforts,” she said.
The board agreed to engage with Guelph MP Lloyd Longfield, MPP Mike Schreiner and provincial ministers to find funding through upper levels of government, along with other stakeholders.
“With the proper funding to give the community the support it needs and deserves, we could truly demonstrate what’s possible for other communities,” said Chief Gord Cobey.
“We really think this could be a model that could be replicated in many other places.”
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