The cop behind the New Westminster Police Department’s mental health unit was recently recognized for his efforts to change the way we think about mental health.
Const. Art Wlodyka was named one of 150 Canadians making a difference in mental health across the country. It was all part of the Toronto-based Centre for Mental Health and Addictions’ Difference Makers: 150 Leading Canadians for Mental Health.
The centre is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and one of the world's leading research centres in the field of mental health and addictions, according to a press release.
In 2013, Wlodyka pushed for the creation of the New Westminster Police Department’s mental health unit. His idea was simple: Create a team of officers equipped to handle incidents involving people living with mental health issues, all the while reducing the time officers spent transporting people to Royal Columbian Hospital.
Today, his unit manages a database of people with mental health issues who’ve had interactions with police. The detailed histories are used by officers to help inform their interactions at future calls. Wlodyka has also helped train all the members to better help people living with mental health issues, according to the release.
“Ever since Const. Wlodyka pushed for the creation of our mental health unit, the residents of New Westminster have benefited from his compassion, engagement, and commitment,” New Westminster police Chief Const. Dave Jones said in the release. “Not only have people experiencing crisis have benefited from meeting Const. Wlodyka, but his work and studies on first responders’ mental health has been equally important.”
Wlodyka was chosen out of more than 3,700 names put forward to the centre for mental health.
“I’m grateful to be part of an organization that’s making such an important cause a priority,” Wlodyka said in the release. “To receive this distinction is a true honour, and I share it with the people I work alongside each day.”
