Dealing with a mental health or substance crisis?

The Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program is a mobile crisis service, intended to approach mental health and substance use crises from a trauma-informed and culturally relevant care perspective.

Our dedicated Crisis Response Team (CRT) will support individuals experiencing a variety of complex health needs, where emergency responder interventions may not be appropriate or beneficial.

The ANCHOR program is a collaborative effort of CCHC and Somerset West Community Health Centre (SWCHC), funded by the City of Ottawa. ANCHOR is a trial program that will help evaluate non-police crisis intervention services for future expansion and funding opportunities.

IMPORTANT: The ANCHOR program is not intended to respond to situations where threats of violence or use of weapons are present or likely to occur. For these situations, please call 911.

ANCHOR Crisis Response Workers come from diverse professional, educational and personal backgrounds. That includes individuals with lived and living experiences of mental health and substance use, and from racialized and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.

ANCHOR team members are trained in crisis response and de-escalation. With an emphasis on equity and the needs of equity deserving populations.

The ANCHOR program has the capacity to serve individuals in a variety of languages, including English, French, Arabic, Cantonese, Swahili, and Somali.

ANCHOR teams will respond to non-violent calls where someone is experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis.

A wide variety of situations might fall into this category. Some examples include threats of suicide, erratic behaviour, and well-being checks.

If you are unsure, the CNEO/211 East Community Navigators will ask questions to determine if ANCHOR is the best response.

When someone’s behaviour shows they might be in distress, which is different for every person. In a crisis, a person might need or benefit from intervention or de-escalation.

A person is experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis when they are very distressed or in danger due to a mental health condition or their substance use health. This requires immediate care to prevent harm or worsening of the situation.

For example:

• They might be acting unpredictably, saying they feel hopeless, or want to hurt themselves.

• A heightened situation involving someone’s mental health needs de-escalating.

• It seems like someone needs help and they are not a danger to anyone else, so you do not want to call the police.

If a call is made to 9-1-1, the dispatcher will ask questions to determine the best response. The ANCHOR team will be sent if they are the most appropriate crisis response. Or, emergency services (police, paramedic or fire) will be dispatched. Call 2-1-1 for an ANCHOR response for a mental health or substance use crisis. 2-1-1 reaches Community Navigators from Community Navigation of Eastern Ontario (CNEO)/2-1-1 East.

• Public drug use

• Visibly unhoused folks staying or camping in an area

• Needles and other drug paraphernalia left in public

  • Calls to pick up needles and other paraphernalia that have been left in public spaces can be directed to 3-1-1 for city services

The ANCHOR team will respond to non-emergency situations in the area between the Ottawa River (north), Rideau Canal (east), Trans-Canada Highway 417 (south) and Preston Street (west).

This is the trial area for the project.

The Community Safety and Well-Being Office has a robust evaluation framework in place to track, monitor and report on key indicators over ANCHOR’s lifetime and demonstrate whether progress was made towards the expected outcomes and intended results. Evaluation results will be shared publicly at key intervals.

The first 11 weeks of ANCHOR data is available, click here for the infographic and here for the Community Safety and Well-Being Office memos to council.

ANCHOR is a trial project funded by the City of Ottawa. The goal is to evaluate the benefits of a non-police, community-based response to mental health and substance use crises.

Post-crisis support workers will refer clients to other community services to address the immediate issue(s) an individual is facing.

An alternate response is a community-led service that dispatches trained crisis teams to people in mental health and substance use crises. It addresses the needs of the whole person and any underlying factors, in the moment and longer term through ongoing follow-through and connections. This three-year pilot project is trialling a non-police response.

The ANCHOR program is a non-police, community-led, culturally sensitive and equity-centered service. On each response there will be team members who have lived or living experience with mental health or substance use, and/or are racialized.

The ANCHOR program is completely independent of police services. Although, there may be situations where our services intersect with Ottawa Police Services (OPS) during call triaging and community response.

For mental health and substance use crises, Ottawa residents will be able to access a range of response services of their choosing that feel safe and meet their individual needs.

• ANCHOR – 2-1-1 in Centertown

• 9-8-8 If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide

• Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region: 613-238-3311

• Mental Health Crisis Line: 613-722-6914 or 1-866-996-0991

• Online resources - Ottawa Public Health - Mental health, addictions and substance use health Resources

9-1-1 should continue to be used for emergency calls only.