$4,000 in funding has been set aside by the Cortes Island Women's Resource Centre to create a community crisis intervention initiative. The island of 1,000 year-round residents doesn't have a local police detachment and when crises occur—like incidents of domestic violence or a mental health issue—help can take a long time to arrive.

After consulting with police and receiving advice, Cortes Island Women's Resource Centre founder and director Tanya Henck says the centre is organizing a local response team to provide help sooner.

For the intervention initiative, a team will be trained to help stabilize crisis situations and work with first responders when they arrive on scene. It will be made up of professionally trained local residents, specializing in non-violent crisis intervention, who may appear less intimidating than uniformed police or ambulance crews, Henck says.

Henck adds that ideally the local crisis intervention team will be up and running as soon as possible, but the Covid pandemic has caused a pause in training.

The centre partners with Campbell River transition houses, Henck says, and over the past year, calls for help have increased substantially.

CKTZ News speaks with Henck to find out about the local community crisis intervention initiative: