Speaking notes for
Louise Bradley President and CEO
Mental Health Commission of Canada To address the
Balancing Individual Safety, Community Safety and Quality of Life Conference
March 25, 2014
Introduction
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. And welcome.
Now I am very hopeful and excited about the next several days.
This meeting of the minds is going to give us the chance to learn a lot about each other. But while dialogue is important, it’s the action it inspires that really counts.
We’re here because the worlds of mental health and policing frequently intersect. Sometimes, these interactions are positive – but not always.
We are also here because we want to make some bold changes.
Granted, we may see things a little differently. But I firmly believe that by working together we can achieve meaningful positive changes – for individuals and communities.
We wouldn’t be gathered here today if it weren’t for the gracious invitation extended by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Chief
Constable Chu.
Thank you for asking us to partner with you. This is a brave, forward- thinking move. It means confronting a tough issue head on.
Why is it tough?
Firstly, because we can’t shy away from the number of interactions
between police and people with mental illness. To take it a step further, we also have to acknowledge that those numbers are on the rise, for which there are a numbers of reasons why.
Then there’s the issue that is not often addressed. I am referring to a bit of an elephant in the room - the mental health of police officers themselves.
But failing to address this issue is bad for police, and equally bad for the communities they serve.
I have a young friend who is a member of the RCMP. She struggles with the horrifying suffering she confronts on the job. On her first solo call as a new recruit she was sent to investigate an abandoned car.
It seemed innocuous at first.
But soon enough she discovered the horrors that lay within.
A woman, dead, in the front seat.
A self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the face.
Could this event – traumatic as it was – influence her judgement in everyday events? Could it have repercussions on future interactions involving someone with a mental illness?
How could it not?
Even with training and support, the human mind can only cope with so much tragedy. Without it, there is little hope of emerging unscarred.
And yet, her story is not unique – how many of you here today have a similar story?
I will be the first to say that we ask a lot of our police officers.
We ask them to step up to the plate, every single day.
We ask them to put themselves in harm’s way.
The least we can do, the very least, is offer them the tools to protect their own mental health.
Because failing to do so puts their health, and the safety of the public, at risk.
This means building healthy work places. Places where mental health is given the same priority as physical well-being.
Can you imagine saying to a colleague, “Hey, sorry about that broken leg, but I’ve scheduled you for active duty on Friday. Is that a problem?”
No? Of course not. Because the bottom line is simple.
If you can’t look after yourself, you’re of no good to others.
I recently heard an interesting idea on a TV show about the notion of running out of emotional reserve.
If you are tapped to help others over and over again, eventually your well dries up. And, quite frankly, so does your good will. This phenomenon was referred to as “I have no medicine for you.”
In short, if police don’t get the support, training and guidance they need, how can they dole out “medicine” to the community?
Supporting police in their work means supporting their mental health.
Period.
On the other hand, we need to give police the training they need to be as prepared as possible to respond to, and interact with, people
with mental illness.
Our shared goal needs to be improving the outcomes of those interactions.
Now, it’s important to recognize that these interactions aren’t going to go away.
That’s a fact.
It’s also a fact that these interactions can be difficult. They can be frustrating. And, rarely, they even have the potential to be dangerous.
But, sitting back and pointing a finger, or laying blame at the feet of the police officers o at the feet of people with mental illnesses doesn’t solve the problem.
It compounds stigma.
And that is exactly what we need to avoid.
So, what do we do?
Well, we need to stop viewing this as a policing problem, or a mental health problem – and start seeing it for what it is: a societal problem.
It’s an issue that needs to be dealt with for the health of our communities as a whole.
Police interactions with people with mental illness
As a nurse who has worked in forensic mental health and corrections, I have a pretty good idea of the challenges police are facing. They are, in many ways, front line mental health care providers.
Studies show a significant, rising portion of police resources and time – up to one third of calls in some jurisdictions - are dedicated to cases involving people with mental illnesses.
Our analysis also tells us that police are responding to well over one million of such calls in any given year.
But to be clear, the way in which these numbers are determined needs more work.
Even so, the numbers are high and not surprisingly given that one in five Canadians is living with some form of mental health problem or illness this year alone.
To put that number in perspective, let’s consider diabetes.
With 2.4 million affected, it’s considered a crisis – an epidemic even. Yet, nearly 7 million Canadians – almost triple! – are living with some from of mental health problem or illness.
So, how should we respond?
First, we need to fully understand the nature of the problem.
Now, it’s true that high-risk situations generate sensationalized media coverage.
Those screaming headlines sell newspapers…sadly, they also increase stigma.
While the Commission is working to change how journalists report
interactions with tragic outcomes, these examples only tell a very small part of a much bigger story.
The fact is most people living with mental illness are not violent or
dangerous: they are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.
Training & Education (TEMPO Report)
One of the key things we can do here today is share information about the best, evidence-based approaches to training and educating police services around mental illness.
Our research shows that police services are making strides in the right direction.
But because there isn’t a universally accepted curriculum, we have found basic training programs vary widely.
In some instances, trainees might receive as many as 30 hours of instruction; in other jurisdictions they might receive as little as five.
But there are pockets of excellence in training such as Crisis Intervention and De-escalation in British Columbia and the mobile crises teams in Halifax and Edmonton, to name just a few.
Wouldn’t it be great to see advanced, evidence-based programs like these being CONSISTENTLY offered across the country?
By knowing the baseline, we’ll be able to determine how police services across the country can do better – and what help they need to make those changes.
Of course, while training and education are part of the bigger picture, they aren’t the only answer.
If you’ll stay with me for a few more minutes, I’d like to touch on a couple of other significant projects that are improving the circumstances of people with mental illness and easing the burden on police at the same time.
The Commission’s Mental Health First Aid program is built on international best-practices. The idea is quite simple – as the best ideas often are.
Essentially, mental health first aid comes before treatment – and can be administered until a crisis is resolved, much like “physical first aid”.
We feel it is particularly helpful for emergency workers and first-responders.
In fact, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary recently launched an MHFA for Adults Who Interact with Youth that will ultimately see over 4,500 first responders trained to apply this tool.
Then there’s our At Home/Chez Soi program.
Tackling the difficulties around chronic homelessness among people with severe mental illnesses required a revolutionary approach.
In a nutshell, we turned conventional wisdom on its head: rather than offering just treatment first, we offered housing first. Only then did we offer treatment and support.
This approach has yielded significant benefits, including benefits on the criminal justice front.
The full results of our research will be released in a couple of weeks, but one of the major findings was that participants in the project were less likely to use detention centers, jails and hospitals as temporary shelters.
Look, here’s the bottom line – mental illness is a multi-faceted problem.
Police cannot be expected to improve their interactions with the people with mental illnesses on their own.
It is incumbent upon everyone - government officials, policy-makers, community groups and organizations like the Commission - to commit to real and lasting change.
But since you we can’t change the world overnight, I’d like to leave you with one final thought.
Police mental health
There is something we can do, right now, to make the lives of police
personnel a little easier – and that’s giving them the resources to attend to their own mental health needs.
It comes back to the idea that if we don’t look after ourselves, we can’t look after others.
Think about being on an airplane for a moment.
There is a reason that flight attendants remind us to put on our own masks first.
Some of us are hard-wired to help others, and I believe that police officers fall into this group.
But if you run out of air, you can’t help anyone.
I don’t think it’s a secret that one of the virtues valued by the police culture is toughness.
And heck, yes, you are tough.
You have to be tough to do what you do.
And there’s nothing wrong with taking pride in that.
But being tough isn’t the same as being invulnerable.
So what I am about to say next applies to everyone: You should not have to fear that by acknowledging a mental health concern you are going to be shunned or stigmatized.
Having a mental health challenge should not make you the target of ridicule, or result in career-limiting or job-ending consequences.
There are a number of ways to build a mentally healthy work environment, most notably Canada’s Psychological Safety Standard for the Workplace.
And progress is being made in the world of policing. We’ve partnered with the RCMP in the Maritimes and Calgary in tackling stigma head on.
In Calgary, the police service is piloting the Road to Mental Readiness program — which was developed by the Department of National Defence, to reduce stigma and improve mental health outcomes.
But the fact is – more needs to be done.
I would like to issue a challenge to police leadership today: lead by example and recognize we simply cannot afford to limit our definition of occupational health and safety to physical health only.
Mental health is a crucial piece of workplace health and safety, and it can no longer be sidelined.
So, over the next day or so, we have the opportunity to be bold enough to share what’s working – and brave enough to confront what’s not.
You have been a generous audience. Thank you for your attention.
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ABOUT THE MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION OF CANADA
The Mental Health Commission of Canada is a catalyst for change. We are collaborating with hundreds of partners to change the attitudes of Canadians toward mental health problems and to improve services and support. Our goal is to help people who live with mental health problems and illnesses lead meaningful and productive lives. Together we create change.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada is funded by Health Canada.
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The views represented herein solely represent the views of the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
Production of this document is made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada.
