Nanaimo RCMP officers have a new tool in their tool kit — and it includes a teddy bear.
The detachment is the first on Vancouver Island to purchase Sensory Support Kits from Autism Canada, designed to assist in calls involving people with sensory-processing problems or those on the autism spectrum.
“Sometimes we encounter people who are non-verbal, people who have sensory disorders,” said Const. Josh Waltman, Nanaimo RCMP’s mental health liaison officer. “This is just another resource that we can grab when we’re on a call, and it may or may not help us.”
Waltman heard about the kits while attending a first responder training session hosted by the Canucks Autism Network in March.
His request for kits at the Nanaimo detachment was approved by senior management, and 15 arrived last week. They were distributed to school liaison officers and among supervisor and first responder vehicles.
The $100 kits include noise-cancelling headphones, sunglasses for light sensitivity, sensory toys and a whiteboard for people who are non-verbal. They also come with a plush teddy bear, and fidget items like a cube or spinner. Waltman also requested a booklet that allows a non-verbal person to point to where they may be experiencing pain, and the pain level on a scale of one to 10.
“As a community, we need to work together, whether it’s with health care or whether it’s with the ministry or whether it’s with home support or whoever,” Waltman said. “I don’t think we can do it on our own and the more tools that we have to provide a better, more co-ordinated response, it’s going to benefit us and provide a more positive outcome at the end of the day.”
The kits were created over the last three years, while Autism Canada was developing its Search and Rescue for Autism (SARA) program, which offers training materials for search and rescue responders.
During consultations with members of the autistic community, program creators heard how important items can be misplaced or damaged during emergencies or evacuations — items that may become even more crucial to a person with sensory-processing disorder during a chaotic time.
What started as a training program expanded to include the Sensory Support Kits.
“Regardless of whether you’re neurodivergent … everyone has the potential to be overwhelmed,” said Shanyn Silinksi, manager of Autism Canada’s SARA program. Autistic community members tend to have trouble managing when they are overwhelmed. “This can really help someone who is having sensory overload or is just needing to be able to manage their environment so that they can process what’s going on around them.”
Silinski said people can then more easily provide information or answer questions. “Our approach as a responder community needs to be adaptable.”
The kit can help anyone who might have problems with sensory or information processing, Silinksi added, including someone in a state of anxiety or with post-traumatic stress disorder, a learning disability or a traumatic brain injury.
In recent years, several North American cities have begun developing police-alternate response teams, such as the North Shore’s Peer Assisted Care Team and the CAHOOTS team in Eugene, Oregon.
According to the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, which is developing a similar model for Victoria, the concept is that a team of trained mental-health workers would respond alongside or instead of police to crisis events with low risk of harm or violence.
“We have had members of those teams in Canada and the U.S. take our training,” Silinski said. “It’s really important to understand that someone who’s overwhelmed and maybe having a meltdown or a shutdown is not necessarily having a mental-health crisis, even though it may look like it. “We’re giving people the tools to understand where de-escalation can really be supportive, so that person’s voice can be heard.”
