North Bay police, local agencies partner to create new mental health initiative to help youth
Nipissing University is spearheading a one-year research project to create a youth mental health program aimed at increasing how quickly officials respond to children and youth in crisis in the city.
The university is working in collaboration with the North Bay police, Hands The Family Help Network, and a private software company.
“We need a more collaborative response to people with mental health problems in the community,” said Ron Hoffman, chair of the university’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice program.
Hoffman secured a $100,000 grant from Ontario Centres For Excellence In Child and Youth Mental Health to kick start a pilot program targeted at youth under age 18.
The project will give police access to what’s called a ‘mental health screener’ on their phone. When officers arrive on scene for a mental health related call involving a youth, they can input information regarding the child into the screener.
“Quite often, the police service is the first emergency service or social service to respond to a youth in crisis,” said North Bay Police Chief Scott Tod.
The screener will automatically compute an algorithm for categories like danger to self, danger to others and inability to care for one’s self.
“So what it does, is it will help the officer decide on what is the most appropriate action,” said Hoffman. “Whether to take the person to the hospital, we’re also creating linkages where officers can send information from the screener to local mental health agencies.”
One of these agencies joining the partnership is Hands The Family Help Network, which will get youth the appropriate help they need right away.
“It would almost be like an urgent response model to children who are at higher risk in the community or dealing with more complex mental health needs,” said Trish Benoit, the group's acting director of children and youth services.
Oftentimes, youth in crisis incidents occur in school or at home. Statistics from July show police responded to 150 mental health related calls. The police’s mobile crisis team was sent to 22 of those calls.
“Having a screener available to us to record and have information readily provided to a healthcare provider in a very quick fashion will be able to get us access to an individual quicker,” said Tod.
It’s a one-of-a-kind project. Benoit said similar programs have been created for police agencies catered to the adult sector, but never for struggling youth.
“We’re one of the first communities to pilot this across the province within the age demographic,” she said.
Hoffman, a former police officer, said the screener tool will not only help youth get treatment faster, but also help police who might not be trained how to deal with certain mental health incidents.
“What we’re doing is catching that mental health disorder at an earlier stage in the hopes of averting situations where the police come later and it’s already a crisis,” said Hoffman. “This is really huge. It’s ground-breaking.”
Hoffman said police will be trained to ask for consent to use the system with the youth in crisis, unless it’s a matter of a life or death.
It’s hoped the screener system will be set up by Dec. 8.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Angst and calls for resting places as Surrey, B.C., pet cemetery development continues
A single headstone is all that remains of dozens of markers for long-buried pets in a subdivision in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood, where a half-acre parcel bears a large sign announcing the proposed construction of new homes.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.