Dear Community Members,
We want to inform you about an incident that occurred recently at the John Braithwaite Way Recreation Centre in North Vancouver. We received a report from a staff member at the centre, regarding a security concern with a connection to CMHA North and West Vancouver’s North Shore Peer Assisted Care Team (PACT). North Shore PACT is a mobile community-led crisis response team dedicated to attending crisis calls related to mental health and/or substance use across our community.
Staff from John Braithwaite Way Recreation Centre informed us that an individual claiming to be from PACT arrived at the centre under the guise of conducting a wellness check. The individual, who is not a PACT member, is described as approximately 6 feet tall, wearing grey sweatpants and having thick hair. While impersonating PACT, he proceeded to open room doors within the facility.
We want to reassure the community that our standard operating procedure involves dispatching our PACT teams in pairs, and our staff members are required to wear identification badges. Anyone interacting with PACT is empowered to request identification or contact PACT directly to verify the legitimacy of any individuals claiming to be from our organization.
The safety and security of our community members are paramount to us. We are taking this incident seriously and are reviewing our security protocols to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
Sincerely,
Leanne Mack, Executive Director
CMHA North and West Vancouver Branch