Helping police officers better respond to mental health challenges

We’re thrilled to announce the recipients of our latest impact grant, offered in partnership with Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC)!

Accessing mental health or addictions services can be challenging, especially for children, young people and families living in remote or northern communities. That’s why we called on researchers and agencies from northern Ontario to propose and test innovative solutions with the potential to improve access to mental health services in their communities.

The selected project will help police officers better respond to mental health challenges.

Statistics show that about 15% of police calls involve a person experiencing at least one mental health challenge. This puts police officers in a unique position to help children and young people get connected to the care and services they need. The project team, led by Dr. Tina Benevides (The FamilyHelpNetwork.ca) and Dr. Ron Hoffman (Nipissing University), will work with police officers in North Bay to implement a new, intuitive mental health screening tool.

Visit our Innovation page to learn more about this project!