The Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS)
The Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS) is a non-police response with multidisciplinary teams of trained crisis workers who will respond to non-emergency calls from people experiencing a mental health crisis and requests for wellbeing checks.
This City of Toronto initiative is a new community-led service in partnership with CMHA Toronto, Gerstein Crisis Centre, TAIBU Community Health Centre, and 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations, so that distress calls could far more frequently be answered not by police but by mental health professionals. The TCCS is being piloted in four areas of the City: Northeast, Northwest, Downtown East and Downtown West. The pilots will allow the City of Toronto to test, evaluate and revise a non-police led crisis response before implementing it at a larger scale.
CMHA Toronto is pleased that we will serve as the anchor agency for the Northwest Toronto pilot. To implement and deliver the service, we are collaborating with seven organizations in the Northwest: Addiction Services of Central Ontario, Black Creek Community Health Centre, Black Health Alliance, CAFCAN, Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre, Rexdale Community Health Centre and Yorktown Family Services.
What services does TCCS provide?
The TCCS will provide mobile multidisciplinary teams of trained crisis support specialists who will respond to non-emergency calls from people experiencing a mental health crisis and requests for wellbeing checks. Our TCCS team consists of community health nurses, crisis counsellors, Indigenous crisis workers, youth crisis workers, harm reduction workers and peer workers.
Client-centered and trauma-informed case management support will be offered, including follow-up support, primary health care, referrals, holistic support, housing support and other individualized supports.
Who is eligible to receive the TCCS?
Individuals aged 16 years and older can access the TCCS. To view the four service areas, please view the City of Toronto’s TCCS Pilot Areas map.
How to Access the TCCS?
The TCCS can be accessed by calling 211 or 911.
Multidisciplinary crisis teams will respond to calls received based on the call type, location, and availability of teams. Calls received from 911 will also be triaged and transferred to the TCCS as appropriate, based on the call type, location and availability of teams.
Teams are available 6 days a week, 24 hours a day from Sunday to Friday and closed on Saturdays.
Where can I learn more about the TCCS?
To learn more about the TCCS, please visit the service information on the City of Toronto website.
