'A leader in collaborative plans': Looking at the impact of the ARCC program so far in Winnipeg

Source: winnipeg.ca

The Winnipeg Police Chief is expected to briefly address a new mental health program within the Winnipeg Police Service on Friday and the positive impacts it has already had, something which is exciting news for those involved.

The Alternative Response to Citizens in Crisis (ARCC) program was launched in December 2021 to offer better support to those who are experiencing a mental health crisis.

The ARCC teams are made up of an officer in plain clothes and a specialized mental health clinician who attend calls to 911 pertaining to mental health.

"Since inception ARCC has made significant progress in providing support to persons in chronic crisis and in need of coordinated community supports. In the past quarter ARCC responded to 82 police events," Chief Danny Smyth said in a report that will be shared at the Winnipeg Police Board Meeting on Friday.

Erika Hunzinger, a manager with the Crisis Response Services and oversees the ARCC program, said she feels the program is going very well.

"AARC has really been a leader in creating collaborative plans. Part of that is developing a response plan for an individual so that general patrol officers can use that for an informed tool when they're responding to a call," said Hunzinger. She noted this step allows AARC to still play a role in helping with mental health calls, even if they aren't on duty.

She said it is extremely encouraging to know the program is being viewed in a positive light.

Not only has it been a good system for police, but she also said it has helped the health-care system by responding to more calls and having an element of safety for the specialized mental health clinician as well.

While there are teams that go to calls with police, Hunzinger said there has also been case management work for those who have frequent 911 calls and visits to health centres.

This is something Smyth also addressed in his report, referencing one individual, who in 2021, was involved in 62 events that needed police.

"ARCC began to proactively case manage this individual during January 2022. Through the collaborative and coordinated efforts of nine different government and community agencies, the behaviour of the individual stabilized, resulting in a 24% reduction in calls for police by the end of Q1," Smyth said in the report.

Hunzinger said in the past, callers to 911 would be asked if they wanted to go to the Crisis Response Centre or whether they could be taken to an emergency department.

"When ARCC goes out they are able to safely provide service for those individuals right in their own homes 87 per cent of the time in the first quarter," she said. "We've just responded to the tip of the iceberg of the work. The work that we have done, we're showing a huge impact on not having to remove an individual from their home environment."

Moving forward, Hunzinger said she would love to see the program move to seven days a week as it only currently operates Monday to Friday, and she would like to see more teams available throughout a given day.

When the one-year anniversary of the program rolls around in December, she said she hopes to show the impact of the work the ARCC team does.

"We are demonstrating that this more collaborative model is effective and that is just what I hope to show in the limited amount of work we are able to do with two teams – that the work that is done is quality and preferred by the individuals."

Before the ARCC program, Smyth said in his report that in 2020, police made 2,102 trips to health-care facilities with people in crisis and spent the equivalent of 147 days waiting with people to be turned over to clinical staff.