Today (Wed) is Bell Lets Talk day, and in recognition, the Saskatoon Police Service has announced a new partnership with the Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service to offer an alternative to a police response to calls relating to mental health. When the Police Service is contacted about a situation of a personal crisis, which may require mental health or suicide intervention, the call can now be transferred to the Saskatoon Mobile Crisis Service. Saskatoon Police will require permission from the caller to do so, and if they don’t want to be transferred, the call will be processed by Police.

Deputy Chief Mitch Yuzdepski says there are a limited amung of 24/7 support services in the community and when those services aren’t available, the default is almost always the police. He adds that based on local and national research, the pervasiveness of mental health embedded in many police calls for service is grossly underestimated.

Executive Director of the Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service, Rita Field, says they are a community-based nonprofit, which responds to calls every hour of every day, 365 days a year. Workers can respond on the phone, in the community or in the office, to a full range of crisis situations including mental health, suicide prevention and families in distress.