Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services is celebrating the opening of its new crisis centre and, with it, more room for people in need.
The new Mental Health and Addiction Crisis Centre at 648 Huron St. was made possible with over $1.8 million from the Ministry of Health to centralize services by providing support and stabilization spaces all in one building.
“Now we have fully accessible, we have all the beds that we had hoped for … and it’s all in one building, so people wouldn’t have to travel from here to the stabilization space,” co-CEO Linda Sibley said.
The Huron Street location is open to those in crisis 24/7 to provide support and up to 10 beds for people who need to stay, increasing from the five at the previous location.
Co-CEO Beth Mitchel said people can access services in several ways, by walking off the street or being brought by police or an ambulance because they called 911 for help.
When people come in, they meet with workers to assess their needs, offer alternatives and give them a room, or it may be determined they should return home or need to go to the hospital, Mitchell said.
“It was always part of the plan to have these beds is an important part because … some people would come here to feel safe, needed to be in an environment where there was there were staff around, there were other people, and rather than go home, or maybe they had no home to go to,” Mitchell said.
Between 2021 and 2022, the previous crisis stabilization spaces provided mental health and addiction care to more than 620 individuals.
During that same period, there were more than 20,000 calls received by the Reach Out line with, on average, 75 daily calls, texts and chats.
Finn Black, an individual with lived experience, talked about the impact the Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Centre has had on his life.
“What I found on the other side of that door is a place that is accepting and welcoming to all that enter,” Black said.
“I have never in my life been more supported or felt more connected, and all it took was walking into one door.”
The CMHA TVAMHS is the combination of CMHA Middlesex-Elgin, CMHA Oxford and Addiction Services of Thames Valley to form one organization.
Sibley said the newly integrated mental health addiction organization means they can better help connect people with varying needs.
“The capacity for immediate referrals to a much wider number of programs without barriers at all is the first thing. It’s an opportunity for us to put in place integrated service delivery as we will be right across Thames Valley,” Sibley said.
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