New Mobile Crisis Response Teams: A Framework for Ontario

A new resource provides the tools and information necessary to help communities implement Mobile Crisis Response Teams (MCRTs) and enhance crisis response across the province. New Mobile Crisis Response Teams: A Framework for Ontario is designed to help police and health partners to collaborate with service providers in their communities. MCRTs are a police-led crisis response model, in which a police officer and a mental health worker respond together when police are called to respond to a person in crisis.

The intent of the framework is to support communities to establish different types of mobile crisis response team models, improve outcomes for individuals experiencing a mental health, addictions, neurodevelopmental and/or other crisis, and encourage consistent evaluation practices across the province.

The resource was developed in partnership between the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Ontario and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), who co-chaired a provincial working group which included representation by the OACP, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Solicitor General and has been supported by the Provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee (P-HSJCC). The MCRT Framework and Toolkit are both available for download on the HSJCC website.