Indigenous Crisis Response Team (ICRT)
Related topics: Indigenous care & support services
Indigenous Crisis Response Team (ICRT) provides wholistic non-police crisis response services for people ages 17 and older in Vancouver.
Leading with cultural safety, ICRT provides same day mobile mental health and wellness crisis response services for people who may be experiencing or nearing a mental health crisis and who may or may not actively use substances. ICRT is an outreach service and the team travels to a person’s location. It is not an emergency service and is not for people who are actively putting their own lives, or the physical safety of others, at risk.
In addition, ICRT provides:
- Critical incident and stress debriefing.
- Wellness checks (in case of crisis, regular care team unable to respond, or not connected to a Care Team, disengaged from a care team).
- Short-term follow-up (up to 30 days), connection to Indigenous cultural supports, and system navigation.
Eligibility
- Aged 17+ (exemptions are made for 16 and under, in special circumstances).
- Frequenting\living in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) community in Vancouver.
- Experiencing or nearing a mental health crisis and who may or may not actively use substances (including a situational, emotional, or behavioural crisis).
- Requiring an urgent in-person intervention that cannot be provided by a regular care team (e.g., Mental Health and Substance Use Team) or another crisis service (e.g., B.C. Crisis Line, Access and Assessment Centre).
- Not for people who are actively putting their own lives, or the physical safety of others, at risk.
- In an emergency, please call 9-1-1 or visit the nearest hospital.
How to access
ICRT is an outreach team. Please contact us during our hours of operation if you’d like to refer a client to our service.
ICRT referral form
Fax to 236-429-3671 or submit by email to icrt@vch.ca
Phone: 604-219-9384
Hours of operation: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.