Mental health professionals are partnering with police officers in the North Shore on a new response team, Car 22
A new mental health support service is now live on the North Shore as police departments have officially partnered with healthcare professionals to launch Car 22, an integrated mental health response team.
Comprised of officers from the North Vancouver RCMP and West Vancouver Police Department, with some members also part of the First Nations Integrated Unit, Car 22 pairs officers with a Vancouver Coastal Health mental health professional who will accompany them during their turn.
“The pilot program is intended to help underserved and vulnerable populations in the community facing mental health issues,” West Van Police wrote in a statement.
Formally announced on Monday (February 1), Car 22 will be active six days a week, Monday through Saturday, from 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm, responding to requests for mental health assistance from officers and other medical professionals.
The program will be piloted until the summer of this year, with the intention that it be permanently funded after that.
“Having a mental health professional formally partner with police officers in the North Shore for mental health calls, [it] it will improve care for the most vulnerable in our community,” said Ira Roness, North Shore director of mental health and substance use for Vancouver Coastal Health.
Speaking to North Shore News, Roness said the official partnership is a natural progression after a strong working relationship with the RCMP and WVPD for several years.
“We’ve always done outreach work with them, and we’ve really had a really good, strong collaborative partnership with them. What we haven’t had is a dedicated response, dedicated staff,” he said. “Now we have that more consistent approach to dealing with any type of mental health crisis that we have in the community.”
The Car 22 program is not the first of its kind. Operating within the city of Vancouver and staffed by the Vancouver Police Department and mental health professionals at Vancouver Coastal Health, Car 87 was introduced in 1978. A second team, Car 88, was introduced to the region in July 2020.
According to VPD, Car 87/88 responds to about 10 support calls a day.
Roness said the takeaway from watching Car 87/88 operate in Vancouver is that there is an “overall benefit of [a] partnership” with police departments working in conjunction with mental health professionals.
“That’s well known by a number of different communities … being able to respond with a mental health clinician and being able to learn from each other and share that experience, and provide that type of service to the person,” he said.
Executive Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association for North and West Vancouver, Julia Kaisla, said the addition of a response team on the North Shore is “always appreciated,” and that the introduction of Car 22 will be a add-on service for peer-led outreach. team that runs the association, the North Shore Peer Assisted Care Team (PACT)which was released in early November 2021.
Since the PACT team cannot detain someone under the Mental Health Act, this is a key point of difference between the two teams, Kaisla noted. When there may be danger to civilians attending a crisis, PACT will also refer people who take 911 calls.
“Where I really see Car 22 as valuable is when they need to respond to someone who is at risk to themselves or others, and is unwilling to accept help on their own,” he said.
PACT is currently operational Thursday through Saturday, 6 pm to midnight, and Kaisla believes the additional hours of support from Car 22 will only help the community more.
“We have complemented and integrated in terms of hours of service. But I do think there is a place to have an ongoing response for people,” he explained.
Responding to about 40 calls a month since PACT launched, Kaisla said the volume of calls shows the community needs support like these programs.
However, Kaisla noted that the CMHA has heard from some marginalized groups that a police response is “not a safe response for them.”
“I think we should always consider how we need to adapt our services to respond to the diversity of our community in Vancouver,” he said, adding that depending on team member training and first responders, escalation is possible. occur.
In a statement to North Shore News, Sgt. Peter DeVries of the North Vancouver RCMP said the RCMP is concerned “first and foremost with the safety and welfare of the public.”
“We advise anyone to contact the police if they need help, no matter the circumstances, and to ensure that they can expect to be treated with compassion and respect,” he wrote.
DeVries noted that police officers have significant training to prepare them for crisis situations.
“Car 22 members are trained in trauma-informed practices and have extensive training in de-escalation techniques, culturally-informed response, with special sensitivity to the First Nations community,” he wrote.
The Car 22 team can be reached by calling 911, West Vancouver’s non-emergency line at 604-925-7300or the North Van RCMP non-emergency line at 604-985-1311.
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