Canada: Alternative Ways to Address Mental Health Crises

Police emergency 378. Do you have an emergency?

Darna Savariu, Crisis Counselor, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

The police is somebody with power, you know with the ability to apprehend somebody and take somebody to the hospital, even against their will.

Elaine Amsterdam, Crisis Service Coordinator, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

If you’ve had poor experience with the police, if you’ve been marginalized, if you come from racialized communities, chances are somebody else could better respond to that community member in need.

Nicki Casseres, Coordinator of Training and Community Education, Gerstein Crisis Centre.  And there’s a lot of opportunity that we don’t have to get to that end place where somebody is in such a desperate place that the only thing that they can do is call 911.

Susan Davis, Executive Director, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

Toronto police services respond to about 33,000 mental health crisis calls every year. We need to flip our system as it exists right now from a sort of default position where police are responding to mental health crisis and actually purpose-build a system that allows people to access mental health support when and where they need it.

Kaola Baird, Former Client of the Gerstein Crisis Centre

I’ve been battling chronic depression ever since I can remember.  This particular period in life, I was under a lot of stress.  I had been working, going to school but I was in the process of losing my apartment.  I learned about the Gerstein Centre while I was in counseling. I realize now that I’m lucky enough that at my lowest point, I can reach out for help.

Darna Savariu, Crisis Counselor, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

Gerstein Crisis Centre, Darna speaking. How can I help you today?

Susan Davis, Executive Director, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

Gerstein Crisis Centre provides a number of ways in which we respond to individuals in crisis. That includes a telephone crisis line, a mobile team that goes out into the community and sees people where they are, as well as we have a number of crisis beds that offer short stays to people.

Darna Savariu, Crisis Counselor, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

My approach to a client in crisis is to listen attentively to what the person is saying…

And this is your first time calling? Yeah?

helping them understand what resources are available

Two of us can come meet you somewhere in the community, if that would be helpful

Gerstein operates in a voluntary nature. Nobody is forced to do anything they don’t want to do.

Elaine Amsterdam, Crisis Service Coordinator, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

In the last year, we had 42,000 phone calls and I can tell you that that was double the number of the year before.

Nicki Casseres, Coordinator of Training and Community Education at Gerstein Crisis Centre

And we say, when you are going through a difficult time, you can contact us. You don’t have to wait until it gets so bad that you have to call 911 or you end up in the hospital.

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The Toronto police recently started initiated a pilot project with the Gerstein Crisis Centre to co-locate a crisis worker within the 911 call centre.

911 operators transfer callers with non-emergent needs to the crisis worker, diverting the call away from a police reponse.

Nicki Casseres, Coordinator of Training and Community Education, The Gerstein Crisis Centre.  And so when people call 911 and then get diverted to talk to a crisis worker, and they can get follow up and we can connect them into the right services. 

Kaola Baird, Former Client of the Gerstein Crisis Centre

My first stay at the Gerstein Centre , it didn’t make the immediate crisis go away, but then you can see clearly so you can make decisions. You can make better decisions.

Susan Davis, Executive Director, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

Individuals need a rights-based approach to their health care. They need to be able to have access to the supports and services they need without losing their autonomy. Our commitment at Gerstein Centre is to really listen to and hear the voices of people with lived experience of mental health and substance use.  At least 30% of people on our board and our staff are people with lived experience.

Kaola Baird, Former Client of the Gerstein Crisis Centre

My gratitude to those that helped me at Gerstein helped me appreciate what other people are going through.

Kaola Allison Baird, F.R.E.S.H. worker

Today, we’re playing bocce ball. It’s one of the many activities being offered through FRESH. The FRESH program stands for “Finding Recovery through Exercise, Skill and Hope. “ It’s an opportunity for people who’ve had lived experience to come out and learn a skill, be active in a very welcoming, supportive environment.

Elaine Amsterdam, Crisis Service Coordinator, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

What we really want to do is to help people develop some strategies that can help them survive the moment and bring them forward because something that works now, may work again.

Susan Davis, Executive Director, The Gerstein Crisis Centre

A non-police non-coercive crisis response is so essential for being able to really provide an option to people that they in that moment make use of and feel like it could be helpful to them.

Kaola Baird, Former Client of the Gerstein Crisis Centre

We’re more than what goes wrong in our life and I feel thankful that I’ve had the experiences I’ve had. Since I've started paddling, I've had a renewed sense of confidence. Realizing your own strength, realizing your own abilities. And every time you go out on the water, it's a test. So it's like a victory every day, every time.