Free taxi service to shuttle rural youth in crisis to mental health services

A new taxi service will provide free transportation for rural youth to mental health services.

The County Transport initiative is a pilot program that's available for transitional aged youth between the ages of 16 and 25 in Lucan, Parkhill, Exeter and Strathroy-Caradoc.

Romaisa Pervez, a Youth Research Assistant at the social innovation lab MINDS in London-Middlesex, said that without this kind of service, many young people can't access the care they need. 

"We've heard from many youth that transportation is a barrier for them when trying to access mental health services when in crisis," said Pervez, adding that alternatives to the new service usually come at a high cost. "Youth in rural areas find this very challenging since most services are not close to their location." 

Pervez said that youth in the 16 to 25 age range report a high percentage of mental health challenges. In 2014, nearly 30 percent of people in this age group in London-Middlesex reported their mental health as poor or fair. 

"There's an alarming increase in mental health challenges that this specific group is facing," she said. "And it's that age where people are transitioning to adulthood and they kind of get lost in the system sometimes."

County Transport is a partnership between MINDS of London-Middlesex, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) of Elgin-Middlesex, Star Taxi and Middlesex County through the Lucan and Parkhill Libraries.

To access a taxi, someone in crisis can call CMHA's 24/7 line. Crisis workers will assess the caller to see if care in the city is needed. From there, they'll help organize a taxi for the youth to get them to the CMHA's Mental Health and Addictions Crisis Centre at 648 Huron Street.

The taxi drivers have been trained in crisis de-escalation and suicide prevention, and the cost of the program is subsidized by funding from St. Joseph's Health Care Foundation and individual donors. 

Warden for Middlesex County Cathy Burghardt-Jesson said that "transportation from Middlesex to London, where the majority of mental health resources are located, is underdeveloped, with limited bus routes and schedules, [leaving] little in the way of affordable transit options for [youth] in crisis."  

In the future, Pervez said they hope to expand the initiative into more municipalities once they have enough funding. 

"We want to make sure youth get care when they need it."