Vicki Stewart (right) is the executive director of Prince Albert's Mobile Crisis agency. (Submitted photo/Prince Albert Police Service)

By Rob Mahon

Mobile Crisis Grant

Demand for Mobile Crisis rising in Prince Albert

Jun 17, 2022 | 5:00 PM

A wide variety of social issues have gotten more prevalent in the years since COVID-19 and the organizations that deal with them have been getting spread thinner. A huge donation earlier this week, however, will be a big boost to Prince Albert’s Mobile Crisis unit.

Thanks to a grant from the Prince Albert and Area Community Foundation, Mobile Crisis will receive a donation of $12,000. With their services in increased demand, the money will be quickly put to good use.

“Money from that grant is used in our sexual assault and crisis unit for women and children fleeing domestic violence and sexual assault,” said Vicki Stewart, executive director of Mobile Crisis. “We have an emergency response for sexual assault. We do emergency response for domestic violence and also some counseling for sexual assault.”

A grant of that size will be a major boost to Mobile Crisis, and while she was not able to be at the granting ceremony to receive it in person, Stewart was grateful for it.

“It’s just that support from the community that is so important,” said Stewart. “We really appreciate all the support that they have given us over the years.”

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The work Mobile Crisis does can sometimes be literally a matter of life and death, so making sure the emergency centres are working as smoothly as possible is of prime importance. This becomes especially true when helping people at the moment a crisis is happening or immediately afterward.

“Emergency response is so important,” Stewart said. “Connecting survivors at the time of crisis is always what you want to do. You never want to leave somebody where they’re feeling alone and left out.”

According to Stewart, Mobile Crisis has seen increased demand for their services in many of the most serious areas. Calls for both sexual assault and domestic violence have been more common than ever since the pandemic began.

“Some of it is just getting information and knowledge,” Stewart said. “People in the community are really just figuring out what domestic violence and sexual assault (are). So they know when to call or they’ve just figured out that we can work with people and now they’re calling.”

Stewart added they don’t have volunteers working at their agency so donations and letting people know that Mobile Crisis is an option when they’ve experienced trauma are both ways of supporting them.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP