PACT team offers help at the end of the line
A couple of years ago, the communications centre at the Regina Police Service was inundated with up to 60 calls a day from a man suffering severe obsessive compulsive disorder.
And he made numerous daily phone calls to other Regina agencies.
His case was one of the first undertaken by Sgt. Colleen Hall, a mental health liaison officer with the Regina Police Service (RPS), and social worker Jess Barre with the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region (RQHR) — members of the Police and Crisis Team (PACT).
“He was unable to control his compulsion to call,” said Hall, who now oversees the PACT program. “He wasn’t able to get a grasp of what he was doing.”
The constant calling could have resulted in a mischief charge, but that was averted because of the individual’s mental health issues.
“That’s one of our goals — to decriminalize mental health,” Hall said.
She and Barre met with the individual — who isn’t being named to protect his privacy — and his family members to talk about what might deter his compulsion to call.
“We gave him some alternatives and one of them was to call us at our office a couple of times a day,” Hall said.
Initially, he called the PACT team six or seven times daily.
“We didn’t know if we could sustain that because we were really busy with other calls as well, but we knew that it was important,” Hall said.
The PACT team provided him with consistent messaging, she said. “He was getting conflicting problem-solving ways to cope and that was unhealthy for him,” Hall said. “Very quickly we saw him improve because he didn’t have to keep re-telling his story to every person he spoke with.”
Gradually, his calls dropped to one a day. Now he phones the PACT team about once a week.
“His well-being has improved,” Hall said. “He has some better coping skills and has found that the repeated calling wasn’t helping his situation ... This wonderful man just needs support from people in the community who understand his mental illness.”
The team works closely with physicians and mental health and addiction services outreach teams to provide real-time response to real-time crises, and they followup with clients to ensure they continue to have appropriate services.
“One thing I’ve learned is that every case is different,” Hall said. “We attempt to meet the person where they’re at and we need to establish why they’re in crisis ... They need to be heard and they need someone that is empathetic to their situation. We’re there to help them step into the light and help them navigate the complex system.”
The ultimate goal is to preserve the lives and well-being of people with mental health and addiction issues and the community at large.
In March 2015, the RQHR and the RPS formed the PACT partnership. The team became fully operational in September 2015.
During the first full year of operation, the PACT team evaluated 980 case files and provided crisis intervention for 334 people.
“Of those, 55 were diverted from the emergency department and 13 per cent we diverted arrest — that could include someone who stole food to eat or someone who damaged some property as the result of a mental health crisis,” Hall said.
Some people are in crisis following a breakup, losing their home or becoming homeless, Hall said.
“A lot of people have financial problems and many times their thoughts lean towards suicide — that’s all they can see,” she said. “We find them other avenues and better options so they don’t feel that is the option.”
The team’s first priority is responding to people considering or attempting suicide — the majority of calls. Other calls include helping individuals who are delusional, hallucinating or paranoid, or those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
“We try to get them connected to resources,” Hall said. “Lots of times, those are people who are undiagnosed or untreated.”
In September, a second PACT team will start working in Regina to alleviate pressures on the RPS frontline and the RQHR when dealing with people in crisis.
“We’re not always going to solve everything — because I know we don’t, but at least for that day, if we can bring that person to a better head space so they’re able to cope, then we’ve maybe averted a further crisis or damage.” Hall said. “We don’t want to see people suffer in silence.”