Getting Mental Health Crisis Support in Nova Scotia

Call (902) 429-8167 or 1-888-429-8167 (toll free)

The Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (MHMCT) provides intervention and short term crisis management for children, youth and adults experiencing a mental health crisis. They offer 24/7 telephone intervention throughout Nova Scotia - (902) 429-8167 or 1-888-429-8167 (toll free) - and mobile response (1:00 pm to 1:00 am) in most communities in Halifax Regional Municipality.




Note that this video is four years old and it does not mention the 24/7 telephone crisis intervention service that is now available throughout Nova Scotia.

From this document:

Mental Health Crisis vs. Psychiatric Emergency

A mental health crisis is:

1. an acute disturbance of thinking, mood, behaviour or social relationship that requires an immediate intervention;
2. which involves an element of unpredictability, usually accompanied by a lack of response to social controls; and
3. which may be defined as a crisis by the client, the family or other members of the community.*

Thoughts of suicide, distorted or psychotic thinking, intense anxiety, depression, unable to cope.

A mental health crisis does not necessarily require hospital-based assessment/triage services and can be effectively supported in the community by a team of service providers.

A psychiatric emergency is when a person is an immediate danger to him/herself due to compromised thinking and/or judgement. A psychiatric emergency requires hospital-based treatment services – Call 911 or attend a local emergency department.

* Consistent with B.C.’s Mental Health Reform Crisis Response / Emergency Services

Also see:

Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team

Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team - Overview Document (2007)

Video focuses on mental health (2013)

N.S. mental health supports reach rural areas (2013)

Meet Halifax's mental health mobile crisis team (2012)

Meet Halifax's Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team

An article posted on January 27th by CBC.ca:

Halifax's Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team is shrouded in secrecy.

They don't wear uniforms, they don't travel in marked vehicles and they keep the location of their headquarters a secret, to ensure the safety of the people working there.

Mary Pyche (pictured, centre), the program leader for crisis emergency services for the Capital District Health Authority, said the idea for a crisis team first started taking shape back in 2003.

"We started putting that proposal together to the department of health. Took a little while," she said.

"By 2006, we had the partnership up and running. We also included in the partnership the IWK as well, so that the service would offer crisis response in the community right across the age spectrum."

In a recent interview with CBC News, Pyche said the team handles about 1,000 cases a month. That's based on 300 to 350 people each making multiple calls for help to the team.

Pyche said 95 per cent of those calls are new — first-time callers or people who haven't called the crisis line for at least two months. That turnover is proof the team is successful, she said.

Mary-Beth Flory (pictured, right), a registered nurse and the clinical practice leader for the crisis team, spends her mornings preparing for when the team hits the road in the afternoon and evenings.

"Come 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the team sits down," Flory said.

"That's three clinicians and our two officers who are on for those hours. And we triage again where we're going to be going throughout the day — where we need to go first, what kind of supports do we believe the team is going to be needing to provide."

Halifax Regional Police support

Four members of Halifax Regional Police are assigned to the team. They work in plain clothes.

Const. Angela Balcolm (pictured, left), one of those officers, said a uniform wouldn't work in her job.

"We try to make people as comfortable as we can and of course, decriminalize mental illness," she said.

"We're there for the person's safety, not to look into any criminal matters."

Balcolm said officers operate under a memorandum of understanding, so they don't share what they hear on the crisis team with other police officers.

Pyche said the police officers give the team extra power.

"We knew if we could partner with police, that they had the authority to do wellness checks and we could go along with them," she said.

That police presence allows the team to respond when friends or family members warn about a person's deteriorating mental condition.

Not all 'lights and sirens'

Mary-Beth Flory said the team doesn't require family intervention to act.

"A person can refer themselves," Flory said.

"It's very easy access. It can simply be a phone call. A person does not need a referral from a physician or from a psychologist to access support, and that it is a wide range of intervention and services that can be provided."

For Angela Balcolm, working with the crisis team offers a different facet to police work.

"People watch TV and they see all the shows like Cops and all that," she said.

"Is that a reality in our work? Absolutely. Sometimes."

Balcolm said her work isn't all "lights and sirens."

"I think it's huge to see this program that is assisting people because the police role in this is huge — getting people, detaining people and taking individuals into hospital, if that's what needs to happen," she said.

Photograph by Blair Rhodes / CBC


Also see:

Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team

Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (PDF)

Emergency Crisis Services - Mental Health Services - Cape Breton District Health Authority - Call (902) 567-7767

The Crisis Intervention Team International (CITI) Conference

September 12th to September 14th, 2011

Virginia Beach, Virginia

An email received by the SSNS today from Maureen Wheller, Senior Strategy Advisor (Captial Health Mental Health Services):

Good morning,

Mary Pyche, acting program leader for Emergency Mental Health at Capital Health, has been chosen to speak at the International Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Conference being held in Virginia Beach, Virginia, September 2011. Mary will be joined by one of the Halifax Regional Police Officers dedicated to the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team. The constable presenting with Mary also co-delivers CIT education with Mary to police officers. Their topic is the Four Level Training matrix Mary developed to enhance mental health training for law enforcement and how it fits with a Crisis Team Co-Response Model.

Here is a brief summary written by Mary for the conference program:

The Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team, Capital Health Mental Health Program is a co-response model of policing and mental health. We believe that a combination of CIT and a co-response model provides the most comprehensive service for building capacity in a community response to mental illness. One aspect of the partnership the Mobile Crisis Team has with Halifax Regional Police in this co-response model is the delivery of mental health training and education to police members. They have developed a four level matrix model of training. Each level has distinct learning objectives and serves a purpose to deliver some level of education on mental health and crisis response to all police officers in the Halifax Regional Police Department. This presentation will meet the following learning objectives:

1. Increase understanding of a co-response model of policing and mental health and the fit this has with a CIT Program.


2. Gain knowledge of a model of police training in mental health that includes all police members attain one level of training.


3. Increase knowledge in developing and implementing a training Matrix.

‪

Mary also organized the provincial police/mental health liaison conference scheduled for June 13th, 2011.

Congratulations, Mary!

Thank you.

Maureen

Image credit

Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team

For a document containing information on the role Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team, click here.

PACT model diverts mentally ill from courts

From the November 24th edition of the Halifax Daily News:

By Rachel Mendleson

If Nova Scotia is looking for a role model in psychiatric emergency response, perhaps it should consider Edmonton, Alta.

Since 2004, the city's mobile crisis teams have been equipped to respond to calls such as the one Karen Ellet placed when her common-law husband, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, assaulted her.

In addition to police and ambulance, one of four mobile teams, which consist of a uniformed officer and a mental-health professional, responds to psychiatric emergencies.

The Police And Crisis Team (PACT), keeps its own files on mental health patients, and has access to other databases, to ensure the history of the individual is known upon arriving on scene, says Tammy Dudas, regional manager of crisis and access services for Edmonton's mental health program. Being on scene allows the team to converse with the individual and help determine the appropriate course of action, she said.

She says so far, 100 per cent of the individuals PACT has brought to hospitals for acute care have been admitted.

The goal of the PACT program is to divert the mentally ill away from the criminal justice system, and toward health care, Dudas said.

But when charges are laid, PACT continues its relationship with the individual to present treatment options.

Focus Group: Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (MHMCT) Services

Over the past year, have you used any of the crisis services of the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team (MHMCT) for yourself or someone you know? If so, you may be interested in taking part in a focus group!

The MHMCT would like to know whether or not their new integrated service is meeting the needs of individuals living with mental illness and their family members. They will be bringing together groups of 8-10 people to talk about experiences with the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team. If you participate, you will be given $25 as compensation for your time.

If you have any questions, or if you wish to participate, please contact the Dalhousie University Research Coordinator at (902) 473-7458. Space is limited.

24/7 help with mental health crisis

From the June 22nd issue of Capital Health Update:

Beginning June 24, immediate mental health crisis support will be available 24 hours a day, every day.

Hundreds of people have called the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team each month since the integrated service opened in June 2006. The number of people seeking help from the team is higher than expected and growing.

This is what prompted the IWK Health Centre to increase its funding to the service, which will enable the team to support people 24 hours a day by telephone. Until now, telephone crisis support was available from 9 a.m. to 5 a.m. daily, leaving a four-hour gap in service. (Mobile support continues to be available in areas of Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily.)

“The early morning hours can be an essential time to offer follow-up services for people who have called us the night before,” says Mary Pyche, service co-ordinator. “Operating 24/7 provides the opportunity for us to continue to support a person in crisis regardless of the time of day.”

At the heart of the team of mental health professionals and dedicated police officers who are the crisis service is the ability to support people in the moment – where and when they are experiencing a crisis. The team also provides follow-up support, which often includes connecting a person to other resources, and education.

The Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team began as part of the Healthy Minds Initiative and is a partnership of Capital Health, the IWK Health Centre, the Halifax Regional Police and the Nova Scotia Department of Health.

Crisis Support: 429-8167 or 1-800-429-8167