Winner of MHRC-Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health Child and Youth Mental Health Impact Grant: Focus on Northern Ontario

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Title: Enhancing access to child and youth mental health services through an improved referral pathway from police officers

Lead Investigators:

  • Dr. Ron Hoffman, Nipissing University, Chair, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

  • Dr. Tina Benevides, Hands TheFamilyHelpNetwork.ca, Data Analysis and Research Evaluator

A new research project, awarded $100K in funding from MHRC, the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health, will strengthen communication and collaboration between at-risk children and youth, local police officers, and community mental health service providers in Northern Ontario.

Statistics show that about 15% of police calls involve persons experiencing at least one mental health issue: this puts police officers in a unique position to flag and refer children and youth for follow-up with mental health services. The project will incorporate the use of a novel and intuitive mental health screener in response protocols to help officers appropriately assess mental health issues.

This project aims to increase service access for children and youth with mental health needs, by empowering police officers with the tools and knowledge to recognize and react appropriately to major indicators of mental health problems.

In their winning research project, lead investigators Dr. Ron Hoffman and Dr. Tina Benevides will aim to improve child/youth mental health outcomes by facilitating those improved outcomes at several levels of the system, including enhanced front-line responder knowledge, streamlined proactive response protocols, reducing traumatic interactions between children/youth and police, and strengthening communication at the system level and enhanced local collaboration.

The investigators also seek to mobilize knowledge and facilitate the creation of new referral pathways, creating greater access to services for children and youth with mental health problems. This includes training for officers, facilitating real-time decision support, and establishing digital pathways for connection to appropriate mental health services. 

This extensive project involves acquiring feedback on experiences, and suggestions for scaling more broadly across northern communities. Interest and awareness generated would be available to be shared with other police associations seeking to support young children and youth with mental health needs, as well as to influence policy action and share knowledge, experience, tools across the system of support.