you
[Music]
I want you to imagine that the most
important person in your life has died
and how that would feel
pain stress maybe the anger how hard
that would be so hard in fact you’re not
sure that this is not salty you can
overcome and I know particularly bad
nights you call your friend and you tell
her that you would rather die and live
without that person another day feeling
embarrassed to hang up the phone
and some time passes before you notice
the glow of a police cruiser side of
your house you hear a knock at your door
and look out your window and you see two
officers standing now you were already
stressed and can you imagine after
everything that’s happened that night
already the tension of seeing those
officers standing
so you go to them and you ask them
what’s wrong they tell you that they
received a call from your friend warning
of a possible suicide it at your address
and you try to wave them away so you
know it was just a bad moment imply it’s
it’s really okay I’ll be alright
these officers have been on a lot of
calls before and they know that if they
leave they can’t be sure that you’re
gonna be okay
and so they tell you that they’re gonna
transport you to the hospital
for an assessment and as you’re being
led down to the waiting police cruiser
you can see your neighbors looking out
their windows watching you being put
into the backpack cart they drive you to
the hospital when they get there they
take you out you walked into the emerge
you sit down and you wait you wait four
hours under police guard and in full
view of your community and you can see
the people looking at and looking at the
armed police officers sitting on either
side it you can imagine what they must
think what did you do that was so bad
that you had to be brought in by police
officers how embarrassing it and finally
you get to talk to the doctor and when
you talk to them you tell them the same
thing that you told those police
officers so you know what I’m fine
really it’s okay
it’s just a misunderstanding just let me
go home and after talking for a while
the doctor tells me that he agrees
Knicks are gonna be okay they don’t have
a bed available so they’re gonna send
you back home and with that you’re
discharged from the hospital
the officers are driving you back home
and you can feel their frustration but
after all of that effort they know
you’re probably not going to get the
support that you eat and so they do the
only thing left that they can they help
you out of the car and they give you a
card with their number on it say have
any other problems give us a call we’ll
be right back you go back into your
house and door closes behind you and you
are right back where you started over
the past several years
these have been under intense scrutiny
for the way that they respond to mental
health especially in cases where the
person has entered into a critically
distressed state and the end result has
been a use of force and sometimes a loss
of life when this occurs the public
becomes intensely concerned with
restraining and police protocol and
reasonably so but the question that is
not being asked is why did that crisis
all happen in the first place why wasn’t
that person helped before they reached a
point that would put them in contact
with police what we don’t see is that
these Falls that end in tragedy are the
symptom of a much larger problem but the
lack of mental health support in our
community is driving our vulnerable
populations into contact with police law
enforcement organizations never meant
provide health care and if we want this
to change we need to look at ways of
preventing those prices bulk happening
in the first place we need to help that
person before not after they’ve already
gone in to prices by providing better
supports in our community and better
tools for officers to use on the field
but in order to do that we need to have
a better understanding of the type of
people that were trying now if I had to
imagine a crisis hall what would you see
if you’re like I was before I started
working this field you’re probably
thinking of three things right now
someone who is aggressive someone who is
armed and someone who psychotic in my
undergrad I co-founded a company called
health I am with my friend Daniel and
we’ve been working with an international
research body called in try to help
police officers when they’re responding
to these calls in over the past few
years we’ve been involved in over 13,000
of these mental health crises calls what
we’ve seen on these poll is that the
people that the officers are interacting
with are very rarely like the people
that we see and I news and media so this
is our pocket
and sample of those 13,000 volts burst
will filter down to include only those
were showing any kind aggressive
behavior then – only who those who are
also carrying a weapon finally those the
roles the psycho
and what we’re left with is five percent
five percent of police mental health
calls fit that stereotype and so
reasonably you may be wondering what’s
happening in the other 95 percent of
calls let’s ask a more specific question
how many of these calls involve people
like me or like you now to do this I
need to make a few assumptions about you
the first is that you’re not viable the
second is that you don’t carry a weapon
and finally that you’re not homeless
and what we’re left with is 50% of calls
these are not people that are threats to
society this is the mother who has lost
her child man who is going through a
tough divorce or a student who’s failing
all of their courses and can’t cope with
that stress and in almost every case it
is a person who has needed our help but
in the absence of that the police were
the ones who had injured our officers
are stemming a tide of mental health
needs that are not being met they’re
responding to calls like this every
single day and in most communities they
have a choice that has limited two
options one we’ve the person on the
scene and hope that they get help on
their own which really isn’t an option
at all or to take that personal hospital
now if you’re mourning the loss of a
loved one a trip to the hospital might
not be what you need but if the officers
lead and you were to later harm yourself
they’re the ones who take the blame you
know why didn’t they help you why didn’t
they do something and so what we see
across Canada is communities where
officers almost exclusively elect to
transport people to hospital in many
cases knowing that that person won’t be
admitted but not having a better
alternative these folks that the
officers are bringing in are admitted
less than 40 percent of the time now
this is very frustrating for the
officers because they know despite their
efforts that person’s not going to get
the support that they need likely it’s
also very frustrating in the hospital
side because they know that person isn’t
there because they’re fit with the
hospital services they’re there because
the officers don’t have another option
and it’s extremely hard on the patient
as well we’ve one community to tell us
about a case where the officers are
waiting for literally days in the
emergency department with that
individual to the point that they
started going and taking turns getting
takeout food for that person that was
waiting back on the flip side of this
we’ve heard from hospital administrators
who have told us that they’re closing
their gift shops and the training rooms
for their staff to make room for more
beds because they are always over
capacity
you see in most cases that we want to
admit someone that was brought in by the
police we need to discharge someone else
back at community in other communities
officers have a two-day drive just to
get to the hospital and when they get
there there’s no guarantee that that
person will actually bid this is
extraordinarily expensive both in terms
of the financial cost to the police and
health services but also the social cost
but patient for their friends and family
you this is the person who has endured
the extreme stress of a mental health
apprehension and now has to reintegrate
back into their community as if nothing
has happened and tell their friends and
family or maybe their boss at work why
they disappeared for four days without
one what we’ve seen is that this is a
system that does not work instead it has
given rise to something that has been
called the revolving door a cyclical
process in which a person goes into
crisis seen by the police brought to
hospital and is discharged back at you
this happens again again there’s a
community less than an hour away from in
which a single individual responded to
300 times per year that is over 300
calls Fire EMS and police services every
single year now what we have today is
far from perfect but it is an
improvement over the way things used
done you see to understand where we are
today and where we might be going you
need to understand where we came in 1841
Ontario opened its first Asylum at what
is now the site Centre for addictions
and mental health on this mark
meaning of over a century of mental
healthcare that was fiercely criticized
for mistreating and incarcerating our
vulnerable populations and in the 1960s
we as a society decided that this was
unacceptable we began to close our
silence but that poser came with a
promise that instead of
institutionalization we would provide
high quality care at the community where
we closed our silence for those new
supporting measures were never fully put
in place now if I had to choose between
a doctor a police officer or social
worker provide mental health care your
first choice would likely not be that be
soft but the system that we have created
has made our officers the de facto first
responders to mental health needs and
this wasn’t deliberate there wasn’t
planning done to make this happen and
for a while after these closures public
and the police didn’t really want to
acknowledge of this problem but as a
result of this situation our officers
are now our primary caregivers from
other health means though they were
never given the mandate or the tools do
that job we are now seeing a dramatic
shift that is blurring the lines between
our police hospitals fire and EMS
services and our officers the people who
are on the streets are adapting to this
change when asked to rank the importance
of the emotional intelligence training
that they now receive as part of the
training literally 100% ranked it as
extremely important the education level
of our officers is changing as well now
to over 82 percent have post-secondary
education and they’re coming from more
diverse backgrounds like humanities
Social Work and psychology police policy
is to change well now – this is a
picture of Jamie and Angie from the
Brantford Mobile crisis rapid response
team now Jamie is an officer from the
Brantford Police Service Nanji is a
mental health specialist from st.
Leonard’s community services and they
ride together every single day with the
sole purpose helping people live in all
things now these are two of the most
incredible people that I’ve ever met say
if you’ve had an assault and every
single year on the anniversary data
thatís all
you go into crisis with your permission
these two will come to your house we’ll
check up on you we’ll make sure that you
have the support that you need to get
through that tough day we’ve met many
others like Jamie angel but what is
still missing is well-resourced mental
health options for officers to use
outfield
we had one officer talked to us about a
time or who’s trying to find detox
services for an individual who’s working
they searched within a hundred kilometer
radius which included six of Ontario’s
ten largest population centers and they
couldn’t find a single bed if we expect
our officers to be social workers
geriatric consultants addictions
counselors and mental health specialists
in addition to their role as law
enforcement officers we need to at least
give them the tools to do that job we
can’t allow ourselves to only
participate in the conversation once
they’ve done what we’re seeing now is
passionate people working in policing
health care education supportive housing
and more that are breaking down the
traditional barriers between their
organizations and working together and
we’ve seen how effective it can be when
the police are put into contact with
other resources in our community as they
leverage but these new programs come
with a price tag and that can often
scare people as a society we are often
guilty of comparing the cost of a new
program to zero where in reality the
cost of making the same mistakes again
and again is much worse in the
communities that we’ve worked with but
have invested in new programs like the
Mobile crisis teams we have seen a four
to one return on invested tax dollars
but more importantly we’ve seen a more
effective Amorim
had a more caring mental health system
your friends and family need you to help
us make good on the promises we made
when we closed our asylums 60s you all
know someone who has been affected by
mental health they deserve better
support your friends and family deserve
better support you deserve better
support and you have the power to make
that happen with your votes when you
vote for your city councilor for your
premier your prime minister look for the
individuals that have the courage to
invest in a change that needs to happen
after our travels across Canada I firmly
believe that we were positioned to
become an international gold standard
and that’s okay the power to make that
happen is with you
[Applause]
[Music]
I want you to imagine that the most
important person in your life has died
and how that would feel
pain stress maybe the anger how hard
that would be so hard in fact you’re not
sure that this is not salty you can
overcome and I know particularly bad
nights you call your friend and you tell
her that you would rather die and live
without that person another day feeling
embarrassed to hang up the phone
and some time passes before you notice
the glow of a police cruiser side of
your house you hear a knock at your door
and look out your window and you see two
officers standing now you were already
stressed and can you imagine after
everything that’s happened that night
already the tension of seeing those
officers standing
so you go to them and you ask them
what’s wrong they tell you that they
received a call from your friend warning
of a possible suicide it at your address
and you try to wave them away so you
know it was just a bad moment imply it’s
it’s really okay I’ll be alright
these officers have been on a lot of
calls before and they know that if they
leave they can’t be sure that you’re
gonna be okay
and so they tell you that they’re gonna
transport you to the hospital
for an assessment and as you’re being
led down to the waiting police cruiser
you can see your neighbors looking out
their windows watching you being put
into the backpack cart they drive you to
the hospital when they get there they
take you out you walked into the emerge
you sit down and you wait you wait four
hours under police guard and in full
view of your community and you can see
the people looking at and looking at the
armed police officers sitting on either
side it you can imagine what they must
think what did you do that was so bad
that you had to be brought in by police
officers how embarrassing it and finally
you get to talk to the doctor and when
you talk to them you tell them the same
thing that you told those police
officers so you know what I’m fine
really it’s okay
it’s just a misunderstanding just let me
go home and after talking for a while
the doctor tells me that he agrees
Knicks are gonna be okay they don’t have
a bed available so they’re gonna send
you back home and with that you’re
discharged from the hospital
the officers are driving you back home
and you can feel their frustration but
after all of that effort they know
you’re probably not going to get the
support that you eat and so they do the
only thing left that they can they help
you out of the car and they give you a
card with their number on it say have
any other problems give us a call we’ll
be right back you go back into your
house and door closes behind you and you
are right back where you started over
the past several years
these have been under intense scrutiny
for the way that they respond to mental
health especially in cases where the
person has entered into a critically
distressed state and the end result has
been a use of force and sometimes a loss
of life when this occurs the public
becomes intensely concerned with
restraining and police protocol and
reasonably so but the question that is
not being asked is why did that crisis
all happen in the first place why wasn’t
that person helped before they reached a
point that would put them in contact
with police what we don’t see is that
these Falls that end in tragedy are the
symptom of a much larger problem but the
lack of mental health support in our
community is driving our vulnerable
populations into contact with police law
enforcement organizations never meant
provide health care and if we want this
to change we need to look at ways of
preventing those prices bulk happening
in the first place we need to help that
person before not after they’ve already
gone in to prices by providing better
supports in our community and better
tools for officers to use on the field
but in order to do that we need to have
a better understanding of the type of
people that were trying now if I had to
imagine a crisis hall what would you see
if you’re like I was before I started
working this field you’re probably
thinking of three things right now
someone who is aggressive someone who is
armed and someone who psychotic in my
undergrad I co-founded a company called
health I am with my friend Daniel and
we’ve been working with an international
research body called in try to help
police officers when they’re responding
to these calls in over the past few
years we’ve been involved in over 13,000
of these mental health crises calls what
we’ve seen on these poll is that the
people that the officers are interacting
with are very rarely like the people
that we see and I news and media so this
is our pocket
and sample of those 13,000 volts burst
will filter down to include only those
were showing any kind aggressive
behavior then – only who those who are
also carrying a weapon finally those the
roles the psycho
and what we’re left with is five percent
five percent of police mental health
calls fit that stereotype and so
reasonably you may be wondering what’s
happening in the other 95 percent of
calls let’s ask a more specific question
how many of these calls involve people
like me or like you now to do this I
need to make a few assumptions about you
the first is that you’re not viable the
second is that you don’t carry a weapon
and finally that you’re not homeless
and what we’re left with is 50% of calls
these are not people that are threats to
society this is the mother who has lost
her child man who is going through a
tough divorce or a student who’s failing
all of their courses and can’t cope with
that stress and in almost every case it
is a person who has needed our help but
in the absence of that the police were
the ones who had injured our officers
are stemming a tide of mental health
needs that are not being met they’re
responding to calls like this every
single day and in most communities they
have a choice that has limited two
options one we’ve the person on the
scene and hope that they get help on
their own which really isn’t an option
at all or to take that personal hospital
now if you’re mourning the loss of a
loved one a trip to the hospital might
not be what you need but if the officers
lead and you were to later harm yourself
they’re the ones who take the blame you
know why didn’t they help you why didn’t
they do something and so what we see
across Canada is communities where
officers almost exclusively elect to
transport people to hospital in many
cases knowing that that person won’t be
admitted but not having a better
alternative these folks that the
officers are bringing in are admitted
less than 40 percent of the time now
this is very frustrating for the
officers because they know despite their
efforts that person’s not going to get
the support that they need likely it’s
also very frustrating in the hospital
side because they know that person isn’t
there because they’re fit with the
hospital services they’re there because
the officers don’t have another option
and it’s extremely hard on the patient
as well we’ve one community to tell us
about a case where the officers are
waiting for literally days in the
emergency department with that
individual to the point that they
started going and taking turns getting
takeout food for that person that was
waiting back on the flip side of this
we’ve heard from hospital administrators
who have told us that they’re closing
their gift shops and the training rooms
for their staff to make room for more
beds because they are always over
capacity
you see in most cases that we want to
admit someone that was brought in by the
police we need to discharge someone else
back at community in other communities
officers have a two-day drive just to
get to the hospital and when they get
there there’s no guarantee that that
person will actually bid this is
extraordinarily expensive both in terms
of the financial cost to the police and
health services but also the social cost
but patient for their friends and family
you this is the person who has endured
the extreme stress of a mental health
apprehension and now has to reintegrate
back into their community as if nothing
has happened and tell their friends and
family or maybe their boss at work why
they disappeared for four days without
one what we’ve seen is that this is a
system that does not work instead it has
given rise to something that has been
called the revolving door a cyclical
process in which a person goes into
crisis seen by the police brought to
hospital and is discharged back at you
this happens again again there’s a
community less than an hour away from in
which a single individual responded to
300 times per year that is over 300
calls Fire EMS and police services every
single year now what we have today is
far from perfect but it is an
improvement over the way things used
done you see to understand where we are
today and where we might be going you
need to understand where we came in 1841
Ontario opened its first Asylum at what
is now the site Centre for addictions
and mental health on this mark
meaning of over a century of mental
healthcare that was fiercely criticized
for mistreating and incarcerating our
vulnerable populations and in the 1960s
we as a society decided that this was
unacceptable we began to close our
silence but that poser came with a
promise that instead of
institutionalization we would provide
high quality care at the community where
we closed our silence for those new
supporting measures were never fully put
in place now if I had to choose between
a doctor a police officer or social
worker provide mental health care your
first choice would likely not be that be
soft but the system that we have created
has made our officers the de facto first
responders to mental health needs and
this wasn’t deliberate there wasn’t
planning done to make this happen and
for a while after these closures public
and the police didn’t really want to
acknowledge of this problem but as a
result of this situation our officers
are now our primary caregivers from
other health means though they were
never given the mandate or the tools do
that job we are now seeing a dramatic
shift that is blurring the lines between
our police hospitals fire and EMS
services and our officers the people who
are on the streets are adapting to this
change when asked to rank the importance
of the emotional intelligence training
that they now receive as part of the
training literally 100% ranked it as
extremely important the education level
of our officers is changing as well now
to over 82 percent have post-secondary
education and they’re coming from more
diverse backgrounds like humanities
Social Work and psychology police policy
is to change well now – this is a
picture of Jamie and Angie from the
Brantford Mobile crisis rapid response
team now Jamie is an officer from the
Brantford Police Service Nanji is a
mental health specialist from st.
Leonard’s community services and they
ride together every single day with the
sole purpose helping people live in all
things now these are two of the most
incredible people that I’ve ever met say
if you’ve had an assault and every
single year on the anniversary data
thatís all
you go into crisis with your permission
these two will come to your house we’ll
check up on you we’ll make sure that you
have the support that you need to get
through that tough day we’ve met many
others like Jamie angel but what is
still missing is well-resourced mental
health options for officers to use
outfield
we had one officer talked to us about a
time or who’s trying to find detox
services for an individual who’s working
they searched within a hundred kilometer
radius which included six of Ontario’s
ten largest population centers and they
couldn’t find a single bed if we expect
our officers to be social workers
geriatric consultants addictions
counselors and mental health specialists
in addition to their role as law
enforcement officers we need to at least
give them the tools to do that job we
can’t allow ourselves to only
participate in the conversation once
they’ve done what we’re seeing now is
passionate people working in policing
health care education supportive housing
and more that are breaking down the
traditional barriers between their
organizations and working together and
we’ve seen how effective it can be when
the police are put into contact with
other resources in our community as they
leverage but these new programs come
with a price tag and that can often
scare people as a society we are often
guilty of comparing the cost of a new
program to zero where in reality the
cost of making the same mistakes again
and again is much worse in the
communities that we’ve worked with but
have invested in new programs like the
Mobile crisis teams we have seen a four
to one return on invested tax dollars
but more importantly we’ve seen a more
effective Amorim
had a more caring mental health system
your friends and family need you to help
us make good on the promises we made
when we closed our asylums 60s you all
know someone who has been affected by
mental health they deserve better
support your friends and family deserve
better support you deserve better
support and you have the power to make
that happen with your votes when you
vote for your city councilor for your
premier your prime minister look for the
individuals that have the courage to
invest in a change that needs to happen
after our travels across Canada I firmly
believe that we were positioned to
become an international gold standard
and that’s okay the power to make that
happen is with you
[Applause]
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