The Mental Health, Addictions and Criminal Justice Advanced Certificate (MHCJ), launching this September at Camosun College, aims to heal the clash that exists between those with mental health and addictions with the criminal justice system.
“One of the biggest challenges we have in society is the over-representation of individuals with mental health and addiction challenges in our justice system,” program chair Wendy Taylor said.
“People are treated for their actions instead of looking at the reasons for them and the need to have access to mental health and addiction resources … Say, for example, if someone’s acting out in the community, swearing, harassing, or threatening, instead of seeing that as a mental health challenge, it can be seen as someone impacting public safety at the community level. And the resources provided may not necessarily be mental health resources, they may be detention and custody.”
Piloted at the beginning of 2020, the applied learning program equips working professionals with the skills to support people and communities facing mental health, substance use and criminal justice challenges. Those suited to take the program include frontline workers, police officers, mental health, addictions, social and youth workers, as well as correctional and probation officers.
Eva Silden, PhD, a criminal justice instructor in the program, shared data that supports why the program is needed in the community.
“Across Canada, we see that of offenders who end up in custody, 70 to 80 per cent have substance use as a criminogenic factor. In other words, substance use is related to their offending behaviour,” she said, referring to statistics published by Correctional Service Canada in 2022.
Seventy-two per cent of B.C. inmates with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and 70 per cent of people with substance use disorders alone, returned to prison within three years of release, found a March 2024 Simon Fraser University-led study.
One issue is that the police are often not equipped or trained to deal with mental health or addiction issues, said Silden.
“There are some teams (like VICOT and ACT) where a police officer who has received training, along with a nurse, mental health worker/outreach worker, probation officer, etc. respond to mental health calls together. These teams have been very successful however, there are too few of them,” she said.
Stats from both the Saanich Police and VicPD put into perspective how often officers are responding to calls with a mental health component. VicPD told Black Press there were 7,130 calls for service in 2023 where mental health was a contributing factor in police attendance, making up 23 per cent of their total calls. The department clarified that while there are basic guidelines for collecting this data, it is also based on an officer’s perception and some calls may have an element of subjectivity.
For the Saanich Police, this number was 3 per cent of calls in 2023 with the note that not all calls for service involve a criminal act and not all calls for service with a mental health component result in arrest.
“One challenge that the Saanich Police face in responding to calls that have a mental health component … is the amount of time our officers spend waiting in hospitals,” said Jason Hallman of the Saanich Police. “Officers spend on average over two hours waiting for the apprehended individual to be seen, which means they are unable to respond to any other call for service that comes in.”
While working in custody centres and community probation before her career at Camosun, Taylor saw her own systemic issues: “People working in silos, not having resources available for individuals and putting on band-aids.” And connecting factors, such as the time to get into treatment programs, the rules and qualifications to get into said programs, and the difficulty connecting individuals to crucial support systems, led to compounding problems
“There’s a shortage of programs, shortage of services, and sometimes people feel that, if they’re in custody or if there’s a justice system, they’re going to get some services,” she said.
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But apart from the issues, Taylor saw there was something that was working.
“I really found that the most positive interactions and work that I did in my career was working together with others in a collaborative way,” she said.
More and more, Taylor sees police working with mental health workers and that’s why she is excited to have an educational program that models collaboration.
“People working in the field have great ideas and a lot of ways that we could better support clients,” she said. “In fact, the last course is about identifying a problem and working together on it as a capstone to take back to their community.”
Superintendent Todd Preston of the West Shore RCMP detachment spoke to the benefits of the Camosun program.
“When it comes to calls related to mental health, addictions and homelessness we need to ensure a collaborative approach in keeping people safe and providing care for those who need it most. The program at Camosun College ensures students gain an enhanced understanding and ability to provide integrated services and supports to advocate for those experiencing mental health and substance use challenges”.
Upon completion of the program, students will also have a greater understanding of the impact of systems, colonization and decolonization, including information related to the systemic racism of Indigenous peoples and communities. BC Corrections said that in 2024, Indigenous people are nearly 6 per cent of B.C.’s adult population, yet they are 35 per cent of the individuals in custody.
The certificate program features four online courses delivered over eight months, allowing students working in the field to accommodate their work and program schedules.
“We’re really pleased to see some of the work our graduates have done in their community already,” Taylor said.
For more information please visit: camosun.ca/MHCJ.
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