Vice Reporting on Gerstein Centre Mobile Crisis Teams – August 19 2020

I was quoted extensively in this amazing piece by Rachel Browne on the Gerstein Centre’s non-coercive mobile crisis response here:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pkywg7/this-crisis-team-has-handled-mental-health-calls-without-toronto-cops-for-30-years

“If I had a dollar for every time I said ‘Call the Gerstein…,’” said Toronto mental health lawyer Anita Szigeti, who frequently refers clients there. “They’re not going to be forced-hospitalized, they’re not going to be forced-treated. They’re not going to be abused. They’re going to retain some autonomy.”

“The reality of psychiatric hospitalization for most inpatients, particularly when they’re acutely in crisis, is an extremely violent and invasive experience, and it imprints on their memory” said Szigeti, the mental health lawyer.

“When the threat of coercion and that fear of violence is removed from the interaction, people can actually engage and de-escalate.”