Frequently Asked Questions.

​What is mobile crisis response?

Mobile crisis response is a specialized service dedicated to addressing mental health crises and preventing suicide. These teams provide immediate, on-site support to individuals in distress or at risk of suicide. They often consist of a mix of responders, including those with lived experience, psychiatric professionals, or law enforcement personnel. 
In British Columbia, various types of mobile crisis response teams are currently operating:

• Community-Led Response: Peer-Assisted Crisis Teams (PACTs): Peer support workers with lived experience are paired with mental health professionals, embedded in a community-based organization.
• Social-Psychiatric Response: Integrated mobile crisis response teams: Crisis centres on Vancouver Island and the Interior currently provide public access to mobile crisis response teams made up of clinicians, social workers, and police. Integrated teams can be accessed through crisis lines, and although a police liaison officer may be part of the team, the police officer is not required on all call-outs. These teams are run by regional health authorities.
• Police-involved response: CAR co-response teams: A plainclothes, armed police officer paired with a psychiatric nurse. These teams dispatch directly from a police detachment or psychiatric assessment centre. They often work with the small minority of individuals with mental illness who have repeated contact with police and a known history of violence.

Find out more about ​crisis care continuums in our brief for municipal governments. 

​What is the difference between 9-8-8,
​1-800-SUICIDE, and 310-6789?

Each of these phone numbers is an access-point for someone in mental health crisis, thinking about suicide, or folks supporting others at risk to their local, regional crisis lines.
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What is the role of 9-1-1 operators in
mental health crisis and suicide intervention?

When a caller dials 9-1-1, the 9-1-1 operator asks “do you need police, fire or ambulance?”, confirms for which municipality, and then transfers the call to the agency the caller has requested. 9-1-1 operators generally stay on the line with callers until the service requested answers. (source: E-Comm 9-1-1) 

For mental health crisis related situations, BC Emergency Health Services recommends that if someone is in danger of hurting themselves or others, they should call 9-1-1 for help. For mental health support where there is no immediate risk to someone’s safety, they encourage the public to call their local crisis centre. If a person in a mental health crisis or someone who is concerned about them calls 9-1-1, and dispatch determines that an in-person intervention is required, police, ambulance, or both will be dispatched. (source BC Emergency Health Service)

What is the role of BC Ambulance operators in
​mental health crisis and suicide intervention?

If you call 9-1-1 and request an ambulance, a BC Ambulance operator will come on the line and ask you questions about the nature of the emergency. BC Ambulance operators triage calls based on pre-hospital events similarly to how patient conditions are assessed in a hospital emergency room, with the most critical patients attended to first. The BC Ambulance Service prioritizes how ambulances are dispatched based on the caller’s description of the nature and extent of the medical condition or injury. (source BC Emergency Health Services)
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What is the role of police in
​mental health crisis and suicide intervention?

Police are the only emergency responders authorized to initiate what is called an apprehension under Section 28 of the BC Mental Health Act to get the person to the hospital for emergency psychiatric assessment. The person in crisis can get help at the hospital through: voluntary admission, which means that they choose to go to a hospital or other treatment centre, and can choose to leave, or; involuntary admission, which means that a doctor, the police or a judge admits the person to the facility and the person does not have choice over whether they receive treatment. 
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