The efforts of a unique mobile response team working in the Capital region, including St. Albert, has resulted in fewer hospital visits for mental health clients, the province said Tuesday.
The Rural Police and Crisis Team, established in December, is a partnership between the RCMP and Alberta Health Services (AHS).
Consisting of one RCMP constable and one AHS mental health therapist, the team provides on-site risk and mental health assessment and referrals to community agencies.
It receives referrals from RCMP detachments, the Edmonton Mobile Mental Health Crisis Team and suburban mental health clinics within the Capital region.
“I think it’s a great addition to our community and I think it’s a great initiative,” said Jeff Coulombe, manager of adult and senior services at the St. Albert Mental Health Clinic.
The clinic offers a range of community mental health services, including counselling and therapy for those suffering from addiction and mental health problems.
“It essentially gives another resource for people struggling with difficulties and access to a collaborative team,” Coulombe said.
He said the St. Albert Mental Health Clinic could potentially be involved in follow-up visits after an assessment by the crisis team.
“A client may, for example, see the … team in the evening and part of the follow-up plan for that potential client is to connect with the local community clinic,” he said.
“We work in close collaboration with [the team] so we have regular routine conversations with them and collaborate on clinical care.”
In the past, and depending on the severity of the situation, Coulombe said the clinic’s crisis team, a local clinic or the police would have been involved.
“In a lot of circumstances, the police would have been involved, they would done a lot of the triaging of the situation and then would have involved us as necessary,” he said.
“This now puts a mental health professional with the police officer who can jointly do that assessment.”
Since the program began, the crisis team has provided services to more than 70 people, only four of whom required hospitalization. The rest were stabilized and able to remain in the community.
“Early intervention is key to helping to keep people well and the [crisis team] is proving to be an invaluable resource, both to the people they help and to the community,” said RCMP Insp. Jennie Latham, Operations Officer for the Provincial Capital District, in a statement Tuesday.
“They are providing clients with timely mental health assessments and referrals and they are educating our police officers on these critical mental health issues,” she said.
Since 2004, Police and Crisis Teams have been operating in Edmonton, Calgary and Grande Prairie by providing a joint mental health/police response to individuals experiencing mental health crises.
