Halifax has launched a new civilian team to help people in distress in the Dartmouth area as an alternative to calling police.
The two-year pilot project called CARE — Crisis Assistance and Response — began Monday, according to a release from Halifax Regional Municipality.
The program is delivered by Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, supporting anyone 16 years and older dealing with non-emergency, non-violent crises related to mental health, personal well-being or substance use.
The team members will be mobile and can offer help such as de-escalating a crisis, making a safety plan, helping someone get to a safe place and connecting people to community support.
CARE staff are trained in trauma-informed care, harm reduction, mental health first aid and suicide prevention, the release said. They are prepared to respond “respectfully and effectively” to people from diverse communities, including those who are African Nova Scotian, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+ and neurodiverse.
The pilot will serve people throughout Dartmouth (within the circumferential Highway 111), Woodlawn and Cole Harbour from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The service will expand to 24 hours a day, seven days a week in January 2026.
Municipal community safety staff will oversee the program, including evaluation and co-ordination.
People can call 211 for the service, and a dispatcher will assess whether the CARE team is the right fit. Emergencies involving violence or weapons should still be handled by calling 911, the release said.
Both Halifax Regional Police and Halifax RCMP have spoken in support of more civilian-led teams to better serve people and help free up officers for police duties.
The municipality has been looking to bring in a civilian crisis model following recommendations from Halifax’s 2022 report on defunding the police, the Mass Casualty Commission in 2023 and other research. It is part of the city’s public safety strategy, which regional council approved in 2023.
The CARE team launched just days after a report from the Serious Incident Response Team highlighted delays and issues with the health-care system in the case of a 25-year-old Halifax man who was suffering from psychosis when he died during an arrest by police earlier this year.
The report said no paramedics were dispatched in the February incident, even though officers repeatedly radioed for Emergency Health Services. It also said the man’s mother tried to have the provincial mental health mobile crisis team help her son but was told they were short-staffed and could not see him for at least two days.
The mental health mobile crisis team includes social workers, nurses and specially trained police officers. That team provides 24/7 telephone support to people of any age throughout the province, and in-person support within the Halifax region.
