Wellington County OPP have signed a landmark agreement with the Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington Dufferin for a new Integrated Mobile Police and Crisis Team.
The new team, dubbed IMPACT, enables specially trained mental health clinicians to attend mental health related calls with Wellington OPP Officers.
The Mental Health Association says the program ensures residents will have better health and well being as they receive the most appropriate and helpful community based crisis response at the right time, in the right place.
The funding comes from the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network.
Waterloo Wellington Dufferin Acting Executive Director Helen Fishburn says having police work hand in hand with mental health experts ensures the most comprehensive response to people in their time of need.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Wellington County OPP to be able to provide a comprehensive response to people with mental health and addictions issues in their time of need, in the comfort of their homes and community. Our ability to respond to the person’s needs, complete a full assessment, provide support, and ensure their safety is maintained will only be enhanced by having mental health clinicians and police work hand in hand. We know that we will be able to improve health outcomes for people, keep people out of hospital, and keep our community safe by creating this innovative team and collaborative approach,” says CMHA WWD Acting Executive Director Helen Fishburn.
“The signing of this agreement formalizes an already existing partnership that has been in-place since May 2015 when Mental Health Clinicians employed by CMHA co-located at the Wellington County OPP Operations Centre in Fergus, one of the first of its kind for the OPP. We’ve already seen very positive outcomes having the clinicians and officers working together. By solidifying the legal and privacy concerns we know the program will only continue to grow which is very encouraging for our community,” says Wellington County OPP Inspector Scott Lawson.
