A welcoming interior for the newly opened to the public home of Mobile Crisis. (Rob Mahon/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Mobile Crisis Opening

Mobile Crisis celebrates official opening of new location

Jun 22, 2022 | 1:00 PM

The smell of barbecue was in the air in downtown Prince Albert and there was a festive mood at the new headquarters of Mobile Crisis.

After waiting more than two years due to the pandemic, they were officially able to hold their grand opening.

Since late April of 2020, they’ve operated out of a building next to the police station. The larger space and the central location have been a big help to their work.

“We’re located downtown, which is where we need to be,” said Vicki Stewart, executive director of Mobile Crisis. “We’re located right by the police station, we’re partner agencies with them. We’re just down from the shelter, not far from the (YWCA), those are all agencies that we work within the community.”

The new space features individual offices for counsellors and a crisis area for workers who come in and man their phones beginning at 4:00 in the evening and going until 8:30 in the morning.

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“All of us councillors now have our own space, so clients can feel more comfortable coming in to see us,” said Amanda Lofstrom, sexual assault worker with the Prince Albert Sexual Assault Centre. “We just have a more open space for people to come in, in general.”

The new and improved space comes at a critical moment, as instances of sexual assault and the need for the services provided there rose sharply during the pandemic and don’t show signs of slowing down.

The latest numbers from the Board of Police Commissioners show 54 victims of sexual violations as of the end of May. In May, there were 16 victims of sexual violations, which is an increase of eight from the previous year.

“We’ve seen a huge spike,” said Lofstrom. “We’ve definitely seen a spike in referrals coming in from northern Saskatchewan. We cover Meadow Lake, La Ronge, and Prince Albert and area, and we are really busy right now.”

If any good came out of COVID-19, it was that more people had time to reach out, and a shift to virtual forms of communication allowed people from further away to reach out for help. Many of those clients have elected to stay with virtual sessions even after restrictions began to lift.

“We had people that couldn’t make it for travel,” said Stewart. “Lots of times in the winter, the roads are awful and you can’t travel in for an appointment.”

Stewart added that a priority for them now is to add more councillors, as they’ve got a waiting list for those services.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP