Calgary’s Crisis Mobile Crisis Response (CMCR) team’s mandate has been extended and their service to help citizens in need has been expanded to citywide coverage.

In October 2022, the Alex Community Health Centre was chosen to lead a new pilot project that diverted crisis calls around mental health, drug use, basic needs and housing stability, away from Calgary police and other emergency services.

Initially, personnel – a healthcare worker, a trained support worker and a plain-clothed police officer – were dispatched through triaged 911 or 211 calls in District 4. It then expanded to District 5. As of Dec. 1, the program will now be delivered citywide.

The pilot will also continue until April 2024.

Jennifer Eyford, Associate Director of Mental Health, Addictions and Outreach for the Alex, said that they were grateful for an extension.

“I think what we all learned is you just need time to test drive your processes, and the initial timeline just wasn’t enough time to be able to gather data and do the work,” she told LWC.

They first launched the service back on Feb. 15. As of Dec. 21, the CMCR has responded to 181 calls and 140 Calgarians received support, Eyford said. They’ve also been able to respond to calls within 30 minutes.

“I know for the general public 181 calls may not seem like a lot, but I think it’s really important to remember that meant 181 times they didn’t have a 911 call, or went to the hospital, or had EMS or had any other emergency service respond to their concern,” she said.

“Or no service at all, to be honest with you.”

Thus far, nearly 70 per cent of their calls end up in a case management response. Meaning the individual in need wants additional care to identify root cause issues.

Diverting calls from other organizations

Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld, during LWC’s year-end interview, said that one thing that jumped out front and centre was understanding how big a role homelessness, addictions and mental health played in public disorder.

“Once we sort of understand why people are in those spaces, you have a better chance of sort of bringing to bear or connecting them to resources that will actually be meaningful for them,” he said.

“Again, prioritizing the number of people that are there by the people who are having the biggest impact.”

Chief Neufeld said that call diversion efforts in 2023 moved roughly 30,000 calls from Calgary’s front-line police officers.

While 181 calls might seem like a proportionally small number of those diversions, Eyford said that each response has a ripple effect on the community.  She said we don’t live in isolation, most of us are social beings.

“If we are helping one person, they’re in a circle; their family, even on a smaller scale, that community’s helped,” Eyford said.

“I like to think of these 181 calls, in terms of impact, actually quite a bit greater because there is a ripple effect that if you have one person, you’re actually reaching further than just helping out that one person.”

Patricia Jones, president and CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation said that the more outreach people can get, the better.

“I know the Alex partners amazingly with everyone else,” she said.

“My biggest ask, always, is don’t create a different network of services – connect with the services we have – and they’re doing that.”

Now, they want to do more. Eyford believes they’re making an impact, even if it’s one life at a time. That’s why they wanted to expand the service citywide.

“Even though we have the capacity to accept more calls, whenever the team did go out, I don’t want to sound overly dramatic here, but a life was changed,” she said.

“If we can change lives in districts four and five, I think there certainly should be the motivation to change lives in the whole city.”

If you see someone experiencing a crisis, you can call 911 or 211 to access the appropriate resources. The Alex’s CMCR team responds to non-violent crises seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.

No additional funding was needed for the expanded service. The pilot project is funded through the Community Safety Investment Framework, which is a partnership between the City of Calgary and the Calgary Police Service.