The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), and the Grey Bruce Mental Health and Addiction Services has partnered with several police services across the region to support people experiencing a mental health or addictions crisis.
The Mobile Mental Health and Addiction Response Team (MMHART) was launched in October of 2019 through a partnership with these organizations and Owen Sound Police Services.
CMHA Grey Bruce is pleased to be partnering with the West Grey Police Service, Hanover Police Service, Saugeen Shores Police Service, and the South Bruce OPP detachment to expand the program.
This will provide more informed, effective and safe responses to individuals experiencing a mental health or addictions crisis across Grey and Bruce Counties.
"This expansion of our MMHART program is a huge step forward for the communities we serve that enables both CMHA and our police partners to provide informed, compassionate and effective responses to individuals in crisis," said CMHA Grey Bruce CEO Clark MacFarlane. "Our mental health workers are able to evaluate a crisis on scene, ensure the individual receives an accurate assessment and is connected with the most appropriate resources to regain wellness. The expansion of MMHART will save even more lives.”
The MMHART service in the rural communities outside of Owen Sound has a mental health worker based out of the police station who will self-dispatch and meet a uniformed officer at the scene of a crisis call. This self-dispatch approach allows the mental health worker to cover a larger geographic area for these communities and will run three days per week, with various rotating schedules.
In Owen Sound, MMHART service involves a mental health worker and a police officer in plain clothes riding in the same car, responding to calls together. It will be expanding from two to four days per week.
