The city is looking at expanding Toronto’scommunity-led mental health crisis serviceto the TTC, particularly in subway stations.
ѲǰOlivia Chow‘sexecutive committeedirected city staff on Tuesday to work with the transit agency and the pc28Police Service to develop a plan for council to review by the end of September, including how to properly staff and resourcethe city’s crisis response service for this expansion.
“The value of this service is clear,” Chow said at a press conference before the executive committee met. “It makes pc28safer in two ways. People in crisis get the right kind of caring response. And police are freed up to take other calls, calls they are trained for and only they can respond to.”
Any changes or expansions to the program will need full council approval.
While the crisis service responds to calls at TTC stops and stations, it doesn’t yet respond to calls on subway trains, subway platforms or tracks, buses and streetcars.
The TTC has its own special constables and“community safety ambassadors”who perform wellness checks across the system. But Chow said thecommunity-ledcrisis teams have specialized training to respond to people experiencing mental distress on the TTC and can alsohelp manage their cases afterward.
While less than one per cent of the more than 25,000 calls the service has responded to since 2022 was for people in crisis at TTC stations, according to city staff, safety on the TTC has been a concern for riders after a spate of violent incidents across the transit system as ridership returned post-pandemic. TTC data shows violence on transit has since eased.
What is thepc28Community Crisis Service?
Theis considered to complement paramedics, firefighters and police. But, its mandate is to respond to acute but non-emergency mental health crises — where public safety isn’t at risk — as an alternative to a police response for those age 16 and older. With youth under the age of 16, crisis workers would get help from other emergency services like paramedics or a youthagency such as Strides Toronto.
Starting Thursday, the emergency service will be responding to calls from across Toronto.
The initiative employstrained civilians whoare meant to de-escalate these crisesand help direct people to the appropriate mental health and addiction supports, but also shelter and/or violence prevention supports.
It’s free to use, confidential and fully funded by the city with a current budget of over $31 million.
The program is part of SafeTO,Toronto’s multi-tiered decade-long community safety and well-being plan. In 2021, the Ontario government began mandating every municipalityhave such plans as a way to reshape how public institutions respond to community violence, aiming to move away from reactive measures and toward a culture of prevention. (The province does not have any grants in place to help cities with this mandate, but there is some safety-related program funding at the federal level.)
Toronto’s crisis response service started as a pilot program in March 2022.According to 2023 Torontopolice data,addiction or mental health crises make up about 10 per cent of the approximately 5,000daily calls to 911 that officersrespond to each day.
Prior to the pilot project, police handled all mental health crisis calls and wellness checks, an approach that has faced criticismafter the deaths and injury of people in distress.
Out of the 5,868 calls the crisis teams received in the first year, including 3,596 diverted from police,96 per cent did not need other emergency services.
Then in fall 2023,council unanimously votedto make the pilot a permanent service and eventually expanding it citywide as of last summer.
Teams of trained mental health workers respond each day to crises across the city — here’s what
Prior to expanding citywide, the crisis service staffed about 100 full-time employees, said city spokesperson Shane Gerard. Today, it has more than 200 workers.
How does it work?
When staff receive a call — either through 211 or through calls redirected by police dispatch — ateam of twofront-line crisis respondersheads to the scene by car, usually responding within 18 minutes on average.
Workers thenhelp those in crisisand offer counselling through case managers and outreach workers. They also help people navigate social supports to get food, clothes, hygiene products, shelter, health care, employment, domestic violence support and assistance for substance abuse.
The service is also tailored to integrate traditional Indigenous supports, such as connecting community members with Elders, accessing ceremonies and medicines.
Partnerships with community organizations are an integral part of the initiative. The Canadian Mental Health Association Torontonorth pc28and north Etobicoke, with help from local Black-led organizations. The Gerstein Crisis Centre covers central pc28and south Etobicoke, while the TAIBU Community Health Centre covers Scarborough.Indigenous-led teamscover all of Toronto.
The city has also made it a point to mainly recruit workers with lived experiences of mental illness and substance use,but also those with diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures. Workers also have experience or education in social work, nursing and peer support.
How’s it going so far?
Since 2022, about 48 per cent of the was through its dedicated 211 line. Meanwhile, about 42 per cent of those calls in the last three years were transferredfrom 911 — most of whichthe crisis response service resolved without needing police in 2023.
At council’s executive committee on Tuesday, Chowasked city staff if the service needs to significantly grow. In response, staff said that is exactly their intention: the crisis service averaged about 3,500 callstransferred annually from police since its inception but staff said their target is for the police service to redirect at least 16,000 calls a year.
“The (pc28Police Service’s) diversion rate has decreased slightly,” saidDenise Andrea Campbell, the city’s executive director of social development, at executive committee. “We were at 72 per cent in 2023 and now we are at 63 per cent. So it’s very important we keep working with the police service to improve those numbers.”
While psychiatric crises affect people of all socioeconomic classes, the crisis teams are
However, among the challengesfacing the program, even before it expands into the entire TTC network,is the availability of crisis beds and shelter space, Mohamed Shuriye, the city’s director of community safety and well-being, previously told the Star.
“The wait-list that we have seen for mental health and counselling support is an ongoing conversation that we flagged to the provincial government for more mental health support and funding,”Shuriye had said.“It’s desperately needed.”
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