There's a new neighbourhood safety plan in place for residents in the Town of Essex.
The plan was developed through the Substance Supports Neighbourhood Resources Community Partnerships grant in with the Essex County Ontario Provincial Police and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
"The safety plan is really a resource in what to do, who to call in different situations. There are different topics within each of the safety plans, some of them are for mental health crisis, some of them are for substance use crisis, there's also things like human trafficking and intimate partner violence," said Jenny Bradt, Manager of Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction at the WECHU.
The document will be distributed throughout the community and will be available as a digital resource .
"It can be really difficult when something comes up, when a situation arises or you have a friend, family member, someone you see in your community who is dealing with a difficult situation and you're trying to find the right person to call or the right agency that can help," said Bradt. "This is a resource that can help fine tune the direction to go into and who to call in those situations."
As part of the grant, local OPP officers were also provided extra training in trauma response and de-escalation.
"Trauma-informed care, de-escalating violent situations, that's pretty much our bread and butter of what we do, so it's been very beneficial. Our officers are always trying to stay up to date on trainin,g and de-escalation is a major part of what we do now," said Staff Sergeant Christian Cortse.
Similar safety plans have been developed for Windsor and Leamington.
