Montreal program to help homeless people with mental health issues coming to Toronto

Toronto was looking for the best idea to make the city better and it turns out the top suggestion was from Montreal.

Toronto was looking for the best idea to make the city better, and it turns out, the top suggestion involved helping people with serious mental health issues who are homeless.

...and it’s from Montreal.

Cliff is 68 years old and has struggled with mental health issues for more than a year, and has been living on the streets.

“I had a terrible experience,” he told CTV News.

For the first time in a while, however, things are looking up. Cliff is part of the Prism program at the Welcome Hall Mission, which helps people like him by bringing psychiatric care directly into shelters.

“Because the care provided in the hospital is not, let’s say, designed well for the complex needs of this population,” said Prism medical director at the Welcome Hall Mission, Vincent Laliberté.

Laliberté says the program fills a critical gap for people who often cycle between the streets and hospitals.

Prism’s goal is reintegration and helping homeless people move back into housing, often within months.

“Our research has shown that around 70 per cent of people who come to Prism, leave the program with housing,” said Laliberté.

The model was first developed in Montreal in 2013 and has expanded across Quebec.

It caught the attention of a doctor in Ontario.

“When I saw this Prism, I thought, that is a game changer,” said psychiatrist David Heath. “I immediately recognized it as a game changer.”

Heath’s work focuses on providing care outside the hospital for people with complex mental health needs. He submitted the idea of Prism to the Toronto Star’s “One Great Idea” project, and it received the most public votes.

“Hospitals are extremely expensive, and looking from persistence point of view, it’s enormously expensive,” said Heath. “That’s what struck me about Prism is $5,000 to $7,500 per treatment episode dollars.”

Heath is now working to bring the Montreal idea to Toronto.

And as for Cliff, in just four months, he’s gone from living on the streets to preparing for a place of his own.

“I’m hoping to leave on the day of my birthday: February the 1st,” he said.