Talking about Alternatives to Police Involvement in Mental Health Crises

In the video:

 ~ What are the roles of peer support workers in relation to mental health? [8 minutes 22 seconds]  

 ~ Asante, when referring to police brutality states ‘It’s really sad that these conversations have been elevated as a result of highly publicized deaths. Because I don’t think that should be the bar at which we set what is harm and what isn’t harm.’ [20 minutes] 

 ~ Rachel shares ‘The Toronto police get 10,000 suicide calls every year. We’ve heard a lot of stories about someone feeling suicidal, where police have shown up and lead them out in handcuffs in front of their neighbors, in front of their friends, in front of their family, put them in the back of a police car. And then many end up sitting in an emergency room for hours with police by their side, which is very humiliating and embarrassing and stigmatizing, and often very traumatic for people.’ [26 minutes 28 seconds] 

 ~ Outsider witness reflection from Lindsay who ends part of her reflection saying ‘I like the point that Asante made about the struggle doesn’t need to be lonely …’ [28 minutes 35 seconds] 

 ~ Asante talks about race and racism and how it relates to the topic of alternatives to policing and his own lived experience. [45 minutes 42 seconds] 

 ~ Discussion about ‘the system is more interested in symptoms and stabilizing’ versus ‘a person’s story and healing’. ‘The system is often about figuring out the place to put someone’… [59 minutes 7 seconds] 

~ Outsider witness reflections from Rory and Hamilton from Melbourne Australia. ‘We’re many miles away, but something that’s really heartening is knowing that we can connect with people across the globe who share different attitudes on a number of things, but still fundamentally share the same conviction too.’ ‘When I hear globally about people’s experiences of policing in mental health, it really reminds me that you could make a very convincing argument that the mental health system is just an extension of the carceral system’. ‘We did a conference talk on policing in mental health crises in December. Since then in Australia, we’ve had eight police incidences and media won’t touch it. So I think just ramping this up in our own context will be something that we’ll be doing as a result of all of the conversations you are having. Thank you for having them. We’re not having them here.’ [1 hour 8 minutes]

 ~ Asante emphasizes that we can not address mental health if we can not talk about the impact of racism. ‘They are linked like Siamese twins, you just can’t get away from it’. [1 hour 23 minutes 48 seconds] 

~ Talking about ‘Survivance’ – “Wherever there are stories of hardship, there are also stories of resistance to this hardship that continue to sustain us” [1 hour 27 minutes 46 seconds] 

 ~ Questions and reflections from online participants. [1 hour 44 minutes 26 seconds] 

Prior to the November 6th 10 AM zoom please view the video and bring your questions and reflections for Rachel and Asante.

This online event via Zoom will be relevant to service providers who are working alongside persons experiencing mental health difficulties. It will also be of interest to peer support workers in other parts of the globe seeking an alternative to police involvement in mental health emergencies.