Five mixed psychosocial intervention and policing teams (ÉMIP) will now be dispatched in certain areas of the Eastern Townships to better respond to citizens experiencing a mental health crisis.
According to a press release by the CIUSSS de L’Estrie CHUS, there are five local health service networks that will now be collaborating with their local police force to provide improved interventions for people in distress. These local service networks are la Pommeraie, which serves Brome-Missisquoi, Val Saint-François and Des Sources (Sûreté du Québec), Haute-Yamaska (le Service de police de Granby), and Memphrémagog (Régie de police de Memphrémagog).
According to Josyanne Vallières, social worker with the CHUS, and Louis-Philippe Ruel, spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec, the partnership comes at a time where police are facing more situations of people in psychological distress and there is a need to adapt how they are responded to.
