Whereas a Mobile Crisis Response Car Program, such as is the Car 67 model which pairs an RCMP officer with a mental health care provider to address mental health calls, has been in place for some local governments for decades and has been well received; And whereas an integrated robust health care regional model would have value, eliminating jurisdictional policy lines based on local government boundaries for a regional model that follows Health Authority boundaries: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request the Province to provide an integrated health care regional model for a Mobile Crisis Response Car Program.
Ministry of Health Government supports a wide range of mental health crisis intervention services to support people experiencing a mental health crisis, including crisis lines, dedicated on-call mental health staff within local mental health centres, community stabilization beds, sobering and assessment beds, crisis residential care units, and mobile crisis response services. The Ministry of Health is also supporting creation of civilian crisis response teams that will likely feature a combination of trained peers, mental health and social workers, and psychiatric nurses to respond to mental health calls instead of, or in combination with, police. These mental health crisis intervention services are integrated with local police departments and first responders such as ambulance and policing services, as well as acute care and community mental health and substance services. Mobile crisis response teams that integrate police and mental health professionals require a minimum number of crisis calls to support the model of intervention, therefore these teams are more appropriate for urban centres. On call mental health staff within local mental health centres have found to be more appropriate for rural and remote communities. There are presently eight police and mental health partnership mobile crisis response teams in BC located in: Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Kamloops, Prince George and the Capital region. The Government is presently addressing a number of mental health and substance use priorities such as the opioid pandemic and enhancing mental health and substance use complex care services. The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions is currently working with the Ministry of Public Safety and the Solicitor General to invest in community based mental health and social services to help people in crisis and free up police resources. At this point there are no plans to expand police and mental health partnership teams although the province is supporting a pilot project in Victoria to include peer support workers in its mobile crisis response teams.