Province expands mental health screening tool to Mounties in B.C. Interior

VERNON — British Columbia’s Public Safety Ministry says Mounties in the Interior will soon have access to a new mental health screening tool.

It says use of HealthIM, which has been implemented in other areas of the province and most recently launched last month in the Boundary, Okanagan and West Kootenay regions, will be expanded to the Thompson and Shuswap regions starting Wednesday.

The province is providing $2 million annually to the BC Association of Chiefs of Police to support the rollout of HealthIM across municipal police departments and RCMP detachments throughout B.C.

Harwinder Sandhu, the member of the legislature for Vernon-Lumby, says the digital public safety tool will help police make decisions about who should be transported to the emergency room and “who should be redirected to more appropriate community-based services.”

She says it will also improve the quality of information collected and improve the safety of health-care workers by enhancing communication from police, including flagging violent behaviour.

The ministry says in a news release that HealthIM guides an officer through a series of questions that will help assess someone in crisis.

RCMP Supt. Michelle Tansey, who is on the board of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police, applauded the expansion, telling Friday’s news conference that the implementation is helping officers in real-time to provide a more compassionate crisis response.

“Across the province, police officers are increasingly serving as first responders to mental health and substance abuse crisis unfolding in our communities every single day,” she says.

“These situations often unfold quickly and involve considerable uncertainty for every person involved. HealthIM creates greater clarity during these moments.”

The release says the tool has been implemented in all municipal departments and RCMP detachments on southern Vancouver Island. It has also been launched for police in Prince George, the East Kootenays, Port Moody, Nelson, Delta and Surrey.

Tansey says the tool is also available in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2026.

The Canadian Press