If you are in crisis or experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the crisis line at 346-8282
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Crisis Response Services (CRS) addresses a significant need in Thunder Bay as identified by our community agencies, partners and hospitals. Service is provided to individuals and their families to support within the entire Northwestern Ontario region. The five components of the CRS program often work collaboratively with each other to provide the level of support needed to individuals and families across the region. Services included are:
- 24-hour Telephone Response Service.
- Mobile Crisis Response Team (MR).
- IMPACT Team
- Crisis Safe Beds
- Ontario Provincial Police Crisis Call Diversion program(OPP CCD)
Crisis Response Services brochure (pdf)
We have all experienced a crisis at one point in our life. Something happens or a chain of events occur that exceeds our capacity to cope. We may have reached out to our families and friends to get support, gotten through it, and moved forward; or, we may have found ourselves alone and unable to cope.
Some situations affecting an individual that could trigger a crisis are:
- the onset or recurrence of symptoms related to a mental illness;
- difficulties with the use of alcohol, drugs or other substances;
- challenges in your relationships with others;
- a significant life change or traumatic event;
- feeling alone and isolated;
- loss of housing;
- the loss of a loved one and associated grief;
- racing thoughts that just won’t stop;
- suicidal ideas and thoughts or the development of a concrete plan to end your life.
Services, Hours, and Eligibility
Our goal is to support the values, strengths, and resiliency of each individual so they regain the balance and well-being they enjoyed before the crisis occurred.
24-hour Crisis Response Phone Line
Crisis Response offers a 24/7 mental health phone line for the entire Northwestern Ontario Region. Anyone residing from Kenora east to Wawa can access the regional crisis phone line 24/7.Qualified staff are available at all times to respond to all incoming calls with their primary focus on assessment and mitigation of risk. This component of the service gathers information, completes telephone assessments, screens, triages, and provides callers with relevant information, assistance or direction in order to pursue crisis resolution.
Eligibility: All Ages
Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, 365 days a year
Contact: 807-346-8282 | District/Toll Free: 1-888-269-3100 or Northwest Region: 1-866-888-8988
Contact the crisis line at 346-8282 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Your call will be answered by trained professionals. This service is available to anyone of any age.
We provide:
- Crisis assessment and intervention
- Support to family members and friends
- Referrals and service linkages to other community services
- Follow-up
- Wellness planning
- Public Education
Crisis Response Mobile Unit
Eligibility: All Ages
Hours: 12pm – 12am, 7 days a week
Contact: 807-346-8282 | District/Toll Free: 1-888-269-3100
Mobile Crisis Team (MR): A team of two qualified staff members are available daily, during peak hours of need, to assist clients in collaboration with the Telephone Response Service and the IMPACT Team. The focus of the team is on de-escalating the immediate crisis on site. This is accomplished by completing an in depth on site assessment of the client’s crisis within their environment, by assisting the client to develop a plan, by providing support, coaching and mentoring to the client and finally by linking the client to supports, resources or treatment as needed. These “soft outreaches” do not involve police and focus on de-escalating the immediate crisis and providing support to clients and families prior to needed police intervention.
IMPACT TEAM: pairs one IMPACT crisis worker with one Thunder Bay Police Services Officer to respond to calls in the community. The IMPACT team works primarily from the Thunder Bay Police Station and uses a ride along model to provide access to first response mental health supports. The IMPACT team runs 24/7 and works closely with the MR team to provide ongoing mental health supports and crisis de-escalation within the community.
Crisis Safe Bed
Eligibility: Individuals 16 years or older
Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, 365 days a year
Contact: 807-346-8282 | District/Toll Free: 1-888-269-3100
This service provides 5 safe beds intended for short term stabilization for clients 16 years and older experiencing a mental health crisis or any other identified crisis. The primary function is to provide:
- a short-term residential alternative to acute, voluntary hospitalization.
- providing a safe and secure setting, 24 hours a day, for up to 30 days, to assist a person to stabilize their current symptoms, develop appropriate goals, and connect to supports. In order to be eligible for the Safe Beds, individuals must have been in contact with law enforcement within their current presentation for service. This could mean they were brought to hospital by police, or that the IMPACT team has been involved in their current presentation in some way (transportation, referral, follow-up etc).
Ontario Provincial Police Crisis Call Diversion Program (OPP CCD)
The Crisis Call Diversion (CCD) program is a partnership between Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Thunder Bay Branch and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), specifically the OPP Provincial Communications Centre (PCC) for call taking and dispatching police calls for service. CMHA crisis workers (CW) are embedded at the Provincial Communications Centre to work with call takers and dispatch to divert non-emergent mental health calls away from a front-line police response and toward a more appropriate mental health response. CMHA Crisis staff is also able to provide brief support to OPP staff and resource them to appropriate community supports as needed.