An Orillia police officer is up for a provincial award for his efforts to support those in the community with mental health challenges.
Orillia OPP Const. Mike Kitchen has been nominated for the 2021 Police Services Hero of the Year award, which is administered by the Police Association of Ontario.
Kitchen has served as Orillia OPP’s mental health co-ordinator since 2018 and is involved with the Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST). That partnership between the OPP and the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is one of the main reasons he is in the running for the award.
“It’s nice to be recognized, but I’m supported by a really good team at the detachment and the CMHA,” Kitchen said. “The credit should be given to them as well.”
As part of the COAST program, CMHA crisis workers join police on mental health calls. The goal is to get people the support they need and avoid arrest and incarceration.
COAST was recently expanded to include two CMHA workers, meaning they can now attend calls Monday to Friday and every other weekend.
It’s a timely investment. Orillia OPP recently reported a 23 per cent increase in mental health calls over the past year.
As noted on the Police Services Hero of the Year website, “Constable Kitchen engaged hospitals as well as shelters to ensure individuals received access to support. Constable Kitchen was instrumental in getting the COAST program operating again when it had been paused due to COVID.”
He also met with CMHA staff “as well as engaging Orillia city council to help urge community and government supports to open in a safe manner.”
Kitchen got his start in policing 17 years ago in Caledon. He joined Orillia OPP in 2008, returning to the city where he was born and raised.
Working as a mental health officer “wasn’t even on the radar” when he started his policing career, he said, as that type of position didn’t exist.
“It’s one of those things that’s evolved (within the OPP),” he said.
It’s been a good fit for him.
“I enjoy making connections with people from all walks of life and I like helping people,” he said.
It’s rewarding work, but it comes with its challenges, including “gaps in the system.”
“There are a lot of agencies that do their best to fill those gaps, but it’s difficult,” Kitchen said.
It can also be difficult to leave the work at the office. He is often thinking about those who are experiencing mental health crises.
“You do take some of that stuff home,” he said. “You just know that when you go home, you do the things you enjoy and look after yourself so you do your best when you come back to work.”
Kitchen is “absolutely worthy of the nomination,” said Linda Goodall, executive director of the Lighthouse Soup Kitchen and Shelter, which has worked closely with Kitchen and Orillia OPP over the years.
“It’s a great partnership because a lot of our participants trust him, even though he’s in uniform,” she said. “He wants to help. He doesn’t want to arrest people. He wants to get people the services they need.”
The COAST program has also benefited those who use the Lighthouse’s services. Team members have performed wellness checks on some of them.
“It’s developed and grown because they see the need and see that it works,” Goodall said. “We can’t do it alone in the community.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lighthouse has been housing people in hotels. Goodall recalled recently having to remove a woman from the program — something that happens only in “extreme circumstances,” she said.
Kitchen was contacted to help.
“We said we needed more supports for the woman before she could come back,” Goodall said.
Through COAST, the woman was admitted to Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital to get the care she needed.
“It was a great example of community helping a person who was homeless and in a mental health crisis,” she said.
Kitchen thanked everyone involved in COAST, as well as the local hospital.
“They do a phenomenal job working directly with us and supporting individuals in our community,” he said.
He also had some words of advice as everyone deals with the reality of living through a global pandemic.
“In these difficult times, we have to be kind to each other, focus on the positives and give more than we take,” he said. “If we work together, that gives us a really strong chance of getting through this.”
