City looking at non-police response to mental health calls

UPDATE | Ottawa city councillors approved the plan at a meeting on July 12, including an amendment to have the chair or vice-chair of the community services committee attend meetings of the Ottawa Guiding Council for Mental Health and Addictions as a non-voting member. 

One Ottawa neighbourhood could try having mental health professionals responding to mental health distress and substance abuse calls in Ottawa rather than police.

A staff report, which goes before the city's community services committee on June 27, proposes an alternative emergency number to 911 and a 24-hour community based response team of mental health professionals and civilian support workers.

If approved, the pilot project would be rolled out in the summer of 2024 in one neighbourhood before expanding. That first neighbourhood has not yet been chosen.

On Friday, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe posted a video endorsing the program.

"I think we can all agree we need a new approach to responding to mental health calls," he said. "A new compassionate and caring approach."

Sutcliffe said staff have consulted with the Ottawa Guiding Council for Mental Health on the program and have looked at what has worked in other cities. He said they also spoke with police, paramedics and residents.

"I'm really pleased to see that we are making progress on this important alternative response," he said.

Phased approach over 3 years

The report said the council has been working since April 2021 to come up with a strategy to respond to mental health and substance use crises.

It also looked at the best way to respond to mental health calls, established focus groups and consulted with the community.

That work led to the recommendation of a phased approach over three years, which would then be expanded based on what was successful.

The two proposed strategies to be implemented over these three years would be

1. Setting up a non-911 number with a separate call intake, triage and dispatch system for mental health and substance abuse calls. The guiding council also suggested setting up a system so 911 calls can be diverted to this new system as residents become familiar with it.
2. A 24/7 civilian-led response team made up of mental health professionals, outreach workers and peer support workers managed through community support agencies.

Peter Tilley, CEO of the Ottawa Mission shelter and service hub, said it's a great way to supplement the work of police.

"Although (Ottawa police have) provided a great support role, sometimes the issues are areas that their officers may not be experienced with," he said.

Tilley said the mission appreciates how quickly police are able to respond to an incident — especially if someone is being violent — but that this new proposal could have great benefits.

"To have that mental health aspect now available, especially for domestic situations, especially for people out in the community, for people suffering from a drug situation [...] I think it's just going to be a great addition to have professionals in that field available to answer to those calls," he said.

City staff are asking for just under $2.5 million for the first phase of the project and request the Ottawa Police Services Board seek funding from other levels of government.