Centretown Community Health Centre and Somerset West Community Health Centre launch the Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR)
Thursday 15 August 2024
A person in a mental health or substance use crisis needs the right response, at the right time, from the right people, with follow up support.
Centretown Community Health Centre and Somerset West Community Health Centre are pleased to announce the launch of Ottawa’s first safer alternate response pilot project. Ottawa has long had responses for fire, medical and crime emergencies. Now we have a response for mental health and substance use in Centretown, the Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program.
Starting today, individuals can access in-person support for mental health and substance use crises by calling 2-1-1, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The ANCHOR program has the capacity to serve individuals in a variety of languages, and have access to simultaneous interpretation.
The response is available in Centretown and Centretown West, within these boundaries:
- Ottawa River (North)
- Rideau Canal (East)
- Highway 417 (South)
- Preston Street (West)
A safer alternate response is a community-led service that dispatches skilled crisis teams to people in mental health and substance use crises. A safer alternate response addresses the needs of the whole person and any underlying factors; in the moment and longer term through ongoing follow-through and connections to supports and resources.
How to contact ANCHOR
Call 2-1-1 for an ANCHOR response for mental health or substance use crisis. 2-1-1 reaches Community Navigators from Community Navigation of Eastern Ontario (CNEO/211 East) who then dispatch ANCHOR.
What kinds of calls will ANCHOR respond to?
ANCHOR teams will respond to non-violent, non-emergency calls where someone is experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. A wide variety of situations might fall into this category. Some examples include threats of suicide, erratic behaviour, and well-being checks. If you are unsure, call 2-1-1 and the CNEO/211 East Community Navigators will ask questions to determine if ANCHOR is the best response.
What is a crisis?
A person is in crisis when they cannot function ‘normally’, which is different for every person. In crisis, a person would need or benefit from intervention or de-escalation.
A person is experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis when they are very distressed or in danger due to a mental health condition or their substance use health. This requires care to prevent harm or worsening of the situation.
For example, a person is emotionally distressed. They might be acting unpredictably, saying they feel hopeless, or want to hurt themselves. You see or know someone who is intoxicated and looks like they need help. You may be worried that someone could walk into traffic, are not aware of their surroundings, are crying or yelling. A heightened situation involving someone’s mental health needs de-escalating. It seems like someone needs help and they are not a danger to anyone else, so you do not want to call the police.
Call prioritizing and response times
- ANCHOR has up to two vans on duty at any one time.
- Calls to 2-1-1 are triaged for ANCHOR by the 2-1-1 team based on the urgency of the issue and the availability of an ANCHOR team.
- ANCHOR will respond as soon as possible. Response times may vary.
- If a situation is (or becomes) urgent and an ANCHOR team is not available, 2-1-1 will triage to the best 9-1-1 emergency service response.
What situations do not need any response?
- Public drug use
- Visibly unhoused folks staying or camping in an area
Quotes
“Ottawa’s alternate response has been co-developed by the community,” said Suzanne Obiorah, executive director, Somerset West Community Health Centre. “We’re building upon existing outreach and crisis response programs that have been co-delivered by Centretown Community Health Centre and Somerset West Community Health Centre for years.”
“In the alternate response, the best response is meeting people where they are at. This might be on the sidewalk,” said Michelle Hurtubise, executive director, Centretown Community Health Centre. “The response is meant to get people to long term support, not just address the behaviour in the moment.”
Building upon a model that works
Centretown Community Health Centre and Somerset West Community Health Centre staff, many of whom are on now ANCHOR teams, are already known and trusted in the communities most likely to need their support. Somerset West Community Health Centre has been operating a crisis outreach team since 2020 and in collaboration with Centretown Community Health Centre since 2022. This crisis team has been providing support to individuals experiencing crises related to mental health, substance use and homelessness in the Somerset West catchment.
Both Centretown Community Health Centre and Somerset West Community Health Centre bring extensive experience in working with diverse communities, including Black and racialized populations, Indigenous communities, people who use substances and those experiencing homelessness. They employ a person-centered, harm reduction, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive approach, with a strong emphasis on building trust and maintaining relationships with clients, their families, and the broader community.
Safer alternate response in other Canadian cities
The safer alternate response model is already running in other major Canadian cities, like Toronto, Montreal and Calgary.
Launched on March 31, 2022, the Toronto Community Crisis Service is a pilot project offering a community-based crisis response service in four pilot regions within the City of Toronto.
Toronto’s one-year outcome evaluation report found that the Toronto Community Crisis Service has diverted 78% of mental health and substance use calls received from 911. Only 4% of those responses then requested police support.