Matching mobile crisis models to communities: an example from Northwestern Ontario

Abstract

Due to the potential safety risks and nature of crisis response systems in Canada, police are often the first to encounter individuals when they are experiencing a mental health crisis. However, other professionals with different skill sets may be needed to optimize crisis response. As such, police and mental health service agencies have partnered to create mobile crisis response teams (MCRTs) consisting of police and mental health professionals who partner in crisis call response. While past evaluations of MCRTs have shown promising results (e.g., hospital diversions; costeffectiveness), these programs are frequently researched in larger urban contexts. How MCRTs function in smaller jurisdictions, with fewer complementary resources, is unknown. Using an extended Donabedian model as a guiding framework, I conducted interviews with frontline and leadership staff, ride-along site visits, and reviewed program and agency documents to illustrate how the MCRT model operates in the context of the mid-size, geographically isolated, city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. [...]