Two Partnerships Lead To Increase In Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams For Peterborough Police

Three Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams are working in the communities of Peterborough, Lakefield and Cavan-Monaghan after the Peterborough Police Service entered two partnerships announced on Thursday.

(Mental Health Nurse D. Forsyth (front) with (fron left to right) Constable J. Rye; Constable J. Morris; Mental Health Worker M.Faught (CMHA); Mental Health Worker A. Swift (CMHA); Constable S. Leavitt) at the Peterborough Police Station. Photo courtesy of Peterborough Police Service.

The partnerships are with Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (CMHA HKPR) and Peterborough Regional Health Centre PRHC) according to a press release.

In each case, a mental health worker, nurse or social worker is partnered with an officer to respond to crisis incidents and to follow up on cases where their services may help.

“As a service, we have been working extremely hard with our community partners to put the funding and people in place,” says Inspector Jamie Hartnett, Operations, Peterborough Police. “The Service understands and believes in the success these partnerships can have for our community. They are making a difference.”

“We are extremely grateful for the Partnership with Peterborough Police Services over the past 12 years through the Mobile Crisis Intervention Team. This model has proven successful and we are excited that the team is expanding to include more skilled community partners, like PRHC,” said Mark Graham, CMHA HKPR CEO.

“Partnerships like these are absolutely vital, and we are so pleased to be working closely with Peterborough Police Service and CMHA to provide community-based care, when and where it is needed, for people who are experiencing a mental health crisis,” said Sean Martin, PRHC Vice President. “Among many other important benefits, the Mobile Crisis Intervention Team model has been shown to reduce the number of patient visits to the hospital’s emergency department and crisis response unit.”

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