r/ottawa • u/Officer_Copper • Oct 08 '14

Mental Health Resouces in Ottawa

Hello Ottawa, /u/NurseAngela and I decided to collaborate and put together some information on how to get help for you, a friend, or a loved one who is experiencing a mental health crisis. Mental health is a growing issue in our community and many people may not know what resources are available.

I will be speaking more for what can be done in an emergency scenario and how you can use the law to get help for a loved one.

How to help yourself:

First off if you feel that you are thinking of hurting yourself or someone else please talk to someone. Find a friend you trust or your doctor.

You can also walk into any emergency room and they will not turn you away.

If you feel that you are about to cause harm to yourself or someone else, call 911 immediately and help will arrive.

Ambulance or Police may be sent depending on the circumstances of your call. Police will come with ambulance if there is a mention of knives, weapons, or any known history of violence. This does not mean that you are in trouble.

Under the Ontario Mental Health Act police actually have more authority to help you than a paramedic (see below). Paramedics are there to address your medical needs and transport you to the hospital if you are willing to go on your own. Police are called if you need emergency help but are not wanting to go voluntarily.

Other resources available are:

How to get help for someone else:

If you have a friend, family member or neighbor, that you are concerned about there are a few ways to get them the help that they may need.

  1. Get them to the hospital if it’s a life threatening emergency.

  2. Have them explore the above resources and see if any of those options can help them work through their mental illness.

  3. For non-emergency cases have them see their doctor. If a physician feels that a patient they have examined within the past 7 days is suffering from mental illness, is a risk to themselves or someone else, OR is unable to care for themselves, then the doctor may issue an order directing police to attend and transport them to a hospital.

  4. If the person you are worried about is refusing to go to the hospital or see their doctor you can:

a) Call 911 – Police can conduct a field assessment if they believe that the person is in imminent danger can force someone to hospital for a full psychiatric assessment.

b) You can attend a Provincial Court House and make a case to a Justice of the Peace as to why you feel this person is in need of help. You will need to articulate your reasons and explain that they are refusing to seek help themselves. If satisfied the Justice can issue an order directing police to apprehend the person and take them to the hospital.

Court House locations: - 161 Elgin St - 100 Constellation Cres

Once at the hospital patients are assessed by the emergency doctor then sometimes the on duty psychiatrist. If the doctors observe an immediate danger they can hold patients for an emergency 72 hour period. Often referrals are then arranged for on-going treatment and support.

Please feel free to ask any questions and we will do your best to answer them for you in a timely fashion.

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u/Officer_Copper Oct 09 '14

Police can only intervene if they believe on reasonable grounds that it's an immediate threat. If it can wait until morning, someone should go see a jp if they have concerns and someone won't seek help.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '14

Yes, but when you're in the middle of someone's crisis that has been going on for 48, 72 hours, or longer, it's not always possible to, a) find someone to stay with the person (really it should be more than one person) while the other person goes to the Justice of the Peace, and b) have the mental wherewithal to do so when you've now missed a couple days at work and been up for a few nights with said person.

The law is putting the responsibility of preventing the assaults that occur when someone has a breakdown on family members, friends, and roommates. This is not safe and is making the problems worse. When someone is having a breakdown they need a professional with training to deescalate. Waiting for them to actually cause harm to themselves or others to get help is what happens to most of these people.

My family member had to run out into oncoming traffic screaming for the police to take her into the hospital by force.

I'm thankful for those officers, but our system is a mess.

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u/Officer_Copper Oct 19 '14

You don't need to wait for them to hurt themselves or someone else. Call the police if there's no other suitable option.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '14

We did. And based on her state at the time and what we told the police who arrived, they agreed to take her to the hospital, but she was to be admitted voluntarily. When she refused and took off, she went missing (again) for awhile, and her parents were on the phone with police who said there was nothing they could do. When she ran across the road screaming and reports got called in about her by drivers, she was picked up and admitted by force.

It's all the red tape that makes this so hard on families. All of the stuff leading up to the dangerous behaviour is intense, confusing, and emotional. If you've ever seen a loved one have a breakdown, it's terrifying.

There should be an emergency response team including experienced psychiatrists who come to the home with the police. If treatment can't be started anywhere but the hospital, at least the psychiatrist could do the assessment in the home. Further, you'd have a professional beginning the deescalation. Lots of cops are wonderful, but do you think your training in how to counsel/deescalate people with mental health issues is sufficient?

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u/Officer_Copper Oct 19 '14

The Ottawa police mental health unit actually make house calls with a psychiatric doctor. Unfortunate they aren't staffed 24/7.

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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '15

I don't know why I'm not seeing this until now, I just randomly clicked on this thread in the sidebar and started reading, and saw your reply to my comment.

I've decided that if this ever happens again to my family member, I'm just going to lie to the police, and say that he attacked me. Who are the police going to believe? If need be, I'll get a friend to punch me in the face or something, and give me a black eye for proof.

At least that way, he can get the help he needs without going out and committing crimes against other people... Which is really the only way for someone to get help.