Funding from the City of Peterborough will help the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha and Pine Ridge (CMHA HKPR) continue to offer and expand the mobile crisis intervention team (MCIT) program.
Peterborough city council recently approved spending $87,800 to extend the MCIT program funding for an additional two years, through to August 14, 2026. The MCIT program aims to provide a timely response to support community members who are experiencing a mental health crisis and direct them to further resources.
The funding enables CMHA HKPR to have two MCIT teams.
“We are very grateful for the opportunity to continue supporting our community members and growing our relationships with community partners,” Michelle Faught, a CMHA HKPR mental health worker with the MCIT, told kawarthaNOW.
“By having two MCIT teams, we can serve a larger number of individuals and be available for active calls for service. We will continue to use our skills to de-escalate individuals in crisis, provide prompt assessment, and offer follow-up support to individuals,” Faught said.
The MCIT is based out of Peterborough Police Service, Peterborough County OPP, the City of Kawartha Lakes OPP, and Haliburton Highlands OPP. A mental health worker accompanies police and responds to calls from residents who are experiencing a mental health crisis.
The city will spend $43,500 for 2024, which will be funded using Peterborough’s community development program reserve, the city noted in a recent update highlighting council activity and decisions.
The MCIT program was introduced in 2011 with one mental health worker from CMHA HKPR, in partnership with the Peterborough Police Service.
“This program takes a collaborative approach to reducing serious mental health incidents and compounding crises situations with marginalized populations,” the city noted. “MCIT staff provide real-time crisis response and proactive intervention. They provide short-term, intensive follow up on referrals and access to appropriate community resources when needed.”
Funding from the city enabled the hiring of a second MCIT worker for a two-year period, which began in August 2022. CMHA HKPR’s existing MCIT staff is supported by the Ministry of Health.
Adding a second MCIT staff to the program has resulted in many positive outcomes, the city noted in its summary of the program.
According to CMHA Ontario, benefits of mobile crisis response teams include:
- improving client outcomes by providing community assessment to determine links to appropriate community services
- diverting individuals from unnecessary criminal justice system involvement and reduce pressures on the court and correctional systems
- diverting individuals from unnecessary hospital emergency department visits and reduce pressures on the health care system
- mitigating the impact on police resources in relation to mental health and addictions crisis response
- improving individual and/or caregiver experiences.
