About The Project
Purpose of this site:
This website offers information about the project, and a place where reports, publications, and other project updates can be found.
When experiencing a mental health crisis, many people rely on emergency services such as 9-1-1 dispatchers, paramedic services, police services and hospital emergency department services.
​
Emergency response to mental health calls has recently gained significantly greater attention recognizing that these interactions may have potentially life and death consequences for those already in distress. Many of these first response services lack sufficient resources and training, which results in few options to offer when providing care.
​
This research project focused on Ontario, Canada, aims to highlight and develop collaborative practices informed by community-based organizations, acute care institutions (such as emergency services and hospital emergency departments), and people with lived experience to provide emergency mental health support. The project plans to highlight and develop practices that appropriately support all members of the community with particular attention to those of lower socioeconomic status, Black and Indigenous communities, People of Colour, 2SLGBTQ+ and immigrant communities who are disproportionately affected by intersecting structures of oppression that negatively affect health. The project has particular interest in non-medicalized, non-traditional approaches to mental health support, including peer support, and approaches that account for the social determinants of health.
This project is funded by the NSERC College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF).
The Challenge
There has been a heightened focus on the emergency response to mental health calls, acknowledging that these interactions can have life-and-death implications for individuals in distress. Unfortunately, many of these first response services are hindered by inadequate resources and training, leading to limited options for providing care
The project plans to highlight and develop practices that appropriately support all members of the community with particular attention to those of lower socioeconomic status, Black and Indigenous communities, People of Colour, 2SLGBTQ+ and immigrant communities who are disproportionately affected by structures of oppression that negatively affect health.
​
The research questions are two-fold:
-
Informed by acute care and community-based institutions, what practices and models of care can provide appropriate, high-quality support for individuals in distress in need of emergency mental health support? In particular, what non-medicalized supports may improve comprehensive care in this area?
-
What training, resources and skills may be developed to best support practitioners providing care and support for emergency mental health needs?
Project Objectives
-
Identify current models of emergency mental health response
-
Identify unmet need in current emergency mental health responses
-
Develop customized models of care based on findings that can be applied (by partner organizations and beyond)
-
Collaboratively develop workshops and training content for relevant practitioners to better support care provision in this area
-
Develop policy recommendations to support crisis prevention, and crisis response to meet the needs of communities being served in Ontario, Canada.
Research Phases
The project is composed of three phases. Phases one and two will occur simultaneously.
Phase 1: Community-based dimension
-
Conduct interviews, focus groups, and surveys with participants from community-based institutions
Phase 2: Acute care institution dimension
-
Conduct interviews, focus groups, and surveys with participants from acute care institutions, e.g., paramedic, police, emergency department services
Phase 3: Customizing models of care to meet emergency mental health care needs in the community. This phase brings together findings from the first two phases and engages both community-based and acute care institutions in a collaborative discussion to inform enhanced emergency mental health response. The aim of phase three is to co-develop customized models of care based on the findings and input of partner organizations to inform promising practices in emergency mental health response. Based on the findings from phase one and phase two, the research team in phase three will aim to develop policy recommendations, workshops and training content for relevant professions both pre-entry to practice and for working professionals.
Potential For Impact
The anticipated impact of the research project is an improvement to emergency mental health responses, including co-developed customized models of care based on research findings and input across sectors and the development of policy recommendations, both for community and acute care sectors. In addition to improved models of care, resulting workshops and training for professionals working in emergency response fields have the potential to improve the quality of care provision and build capacity in the ongoing development of this field. It’s anticipated that pilot models of care developed from the project will lead to continued study and adaptation, which has the potential to have a provincial impact and potentially national relevance for model development.