The University of Guelph (U of G) is piloting a mental health intervention program that partners Campus Police Services with mental health professionals to provide additional support for students experiencing mental health crises.
The pilot project follows an ongoing partnership from 2015 between the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and Guelph Police Service. Together, the two groups form the Integrated Mobile Police and Crisis Team (IMPACT) service.
The goal of IMPACT is to provide people in crisis with immediate professional care, avoid unnecessary apprehensions by police and limit hospitalizations.
The university reached out to the CMHA to start offering IMPACT’s services on campus. The new campus program is funded through provincial support and began on Oct. 21. The service is available to students on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to midnight and Fridays to Sundays from 2 p.m. to midnight.
Jeff Stanlick, director of services for the Waterloo-Wellington CMHA, said police are not as equipped to respond to a mental health crisis as they would a regular police call. As a result, they often default patients to the hospital to receive care.
Stanlick also referenced the Ontario Mental Health Act, which allows police to apprehend people in crisis if they act disorderly or pose a threat to themselves or others.
“That process is quite intrusive,” Stanlick said.
According to Stanlick, the apprehended individual would be escorted to the nearest emergency department to be assessed by a mental health professional.
“Apprehensions under the Mental Health Act, when needed, are absolutely needed,” Stanlick said. “But there are times where people are apprehended under the Mental Health Act when there are other options that are less intrusive and more clinically supported. That’s what IMPACT does.”
Stanlick said the most common crisis scenarios seen on campus include relationship conflict, bullying, anxiety, depression and thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
Clinicians working alongside campus police are trained in mental health assessment and have a minimum of three years of experience working in the mental health field, according to Stanlick.
U of G’s student wellness service director Alison Burnett said she became aware of the IMPACT service due to its success within the Waterloo-Wellington district.
“Our campus safety office was very keen to have that kind of support in place,” Burnett said.
Burnett said the campus wellness centre can complete a follow-up with students in need through IMPACT. The two-way communication between services provides students with additional support.
According to the Guelph Police, IMPACT has been successful. In a monthly update from September, IMPACT workers attended 44 live calls with police and diverted 40 people from the hospital.
Jessica Joseph, a fourth-year criminal justice and public policy student at U of G, said the university should have offered IMPACT services “a long time ago.”
“The [university] has responsibility, you know. They’re educating us, they’re building a new generation for the future. So I feel like it is their responsibility to ensure that our mental health is just as important as our physical health,” Joseph said.
IMPACT services at U of G have only been available the past three weeks, but Stanlick said it has been successful so far.
“All of our calls, so far, have been diverted from the hospital. So we’ve not had to initiate any apprehensions, which is excellent,” Stanlick said.
Burnett said the IMPACT campus pilot project will be evaluated by the end of this year. The university plans on sharing the results with other post-secondary institutions.
Featured image provided by the University of Guelph.
