FORT FRANCES — Rainy River Ontario Provincial Police have received additional funding to expand their mobile mental health crisis unit.
The collaboration with the Canadian Mental Health Association of Fort Frances known as the Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) has been operating since last February.
The team has an experienced crisis worker teamed up with a specially trained police officer to respond to situations involving individuals experiencing a mental health or situational crisis.
Over the past year, the response team has responded or assisted with 910 calls for service in the Rainy River District.
In a news release issued by OPP on Feb. 10, the program has received additional funding to hire full time and part time crisis workers in Fort Frances and Atikokan.
“The Mobile Crisis Response Team has added a valuable tool for front line officers responding to members of the community in crisis,” OPP Insp. Nathan Schmidt said in a news release. “We recognize that there is a spectrum of issues that may cause mental health crisis and we are taking every step to ensure public safety, the safety of the person in crisis and the safety of our officers.”
The primary goal of the MCRT is to provide an on-site assessment of the client, refer that person when appropriate to community-based services rather than transporting them to the emergency department, the release says.
For more information on the positions, go here.
