A Halifax civilian team helping people in crisis has expanded its service area to respond to more calls.

The Crisis Assistance and Response Team, or CARE Team, is a pilot project from the Halifax municipality delivered through Souls Harbour Rescue Mission. It launched in October within the Dartmouth and Cole Harbour area.

On Monday, the team expanded their service area to handle calls from Halifax’s north end, and the Halifax waterfront to roughly Pier 21.

The team moved to a 24-7 service in January within Dartmouth, but CARE director Matt Reid said they still had capacity to do more.

“We are excited to help more people, reach more people,” Reid said Tuesday.

“One of the hardest things when you have help available is actually, saying ‘no’ to somebody because you’re not in the catchment area.”

Reid said about a couple times a week the team would hear from people either calling in, or talking with CARE staff on the street, that the service area was a barrier.

CARE staff work in pairs, with two mobile teams per shift using vans to reach people where they are.

They deal with a wide range of calls where police are not needed, and no weapons are present. Reid said they include mental-health support, people who are intoxicated, need help with food or housing — or just getting through the day.

“And that might sound simple to many people, but when you don’t have all of the supports around you, the smallest task can seem daunting,” Reid said.

CARE also offers safe, anonymous transportation for anyone dealing with intimate-partner violence. 

One of the team’s vehicles has removable decals that can be taken off for sensitive calls, Reid said, and the ride can be scheduled in advance for whenever someone knows they have a window of time to leave an abusive situation safely.

“Our vehicle just shows up, no different than Skip the Dishes or another unmarked vehicle,” Reid said.

Bamidele Bello, alternative response manager for Halifax’s community safety unit, said the benefit of a pilot is the CARE team can tweak things quickly to respond to local needs.

Anyone in need of the service can call 211 now.

Bello said CARE is also finalizing up a formal agreement with Halifax Regional Police, which would create policies and training around the civilian service. It would also allow 911 dispatchers to divert calls to the CARE team.

“Police may not be the suitable call for every response. And at the same time, we can free up police time to respond to more criminal issues,” Bello said.

CARE is a two-year pilot, running until the fall of 2027.

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