Increasing Access to Mental Health and Justice Service Programs
$37 million will expand mobile crisis teams across the province, hire additional staff, and support the creation of tailored programs for First Nations communities
Our PC government is committed to ensuring that all Ontarians who need more mental health and addictions support have access to the high-quality services and supports they need.
To that end, today we announced an investment of over $37 million to significantly expand access to mental health services across the justice system, including hiring more staff, expanding mobile crisis services and safe bed programs across the province, and supporting the creation of culturally safe programs in First Nations communities.
“Ontario’s police officers respond to tens of thousands of mental health calls a year and we need to make sure they have the right training, as well as extra support from professional mental health workers to respond to these calls, and save lives,” said Doug Ford, MPP for Etobicoke North and Premier of Ontario. “Expanding our mobile crisis services will help those in crisis get the mental health supports they need, while ensuring our police and their community partners can work more effectively together and stay safe while handling these types of calls.”
This funding includes:
- More than $6.5 million for mobile crisis services;
- $5 million for safe bed programs to support mobile crisis teams;
- More than $14 million for supportive housing programs designated for justice involved individuals;
- $2 million for addictions/withdrawal specialist to support safe beds;
- $4 million for enhanced addictions programming within adult correctional institutions;
- $2 million for mental health and addictions peer support for offenders under community supervision;
- $2.25 million for a corrections peer support program; and
- $1.1 million for mental health and addiction supports to vulnerable and marginalized persons as part of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Justice Centres.
This is part of our PC government’s $176 million investment this year in the Roadmap to Wellness, Ontario’s plan to build a more comprehensive and connected mental health and addictions system. It is also a key component of Ontario’s Action Plan: Protect, Support, Recover. This builds on the $174 million the government invested last year for mental health and addictions programs, bringing new base investments across the sector since 2019-20 to a total of more than $350 million.
As part of the $176 million, the province is investing in mental health services that will help support the brave women and men of Ontario’s law enforcement services and will lead to better supports for individuals with mental health and addictions issues and assist Ontario’s frontline heroes in handling mental health cases.