For several years, Halton has continued to be one of Canada’s safest communities—a testament to the continuous collaboration between Halton Region and the Halton Regional Police Service, our community partners and our many actively engaged residents. To ensure Halton continues to be a safe, healthy and resilient community, Halton Region and the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) launched the award-winning Community Safety and Well-Being in Halton: A Plan for Collaboration and Action in November 2017.
Community safety and well-being planning describes how Halton Region, HRPS and our partners work together to proactively respond to issues in our community. Issues such as mental health, housing and homelessness and social isolation impact people in our community every day. We want to ensure those in need of help receive the right response, at the right time—before there is a crisis. The Plan enhances how Halton collaborates with community partners on important issues that impact safety and well-being, and support residents who are vulnerable to negative health or social outcomes.
Taking action through collaboration
As part of the next phase of the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan, Halton has been collaborating with community partners to develop “action tables”. These action tables bring together people, programs and services to develop solutions for priority issues. To this end, several action tables were created over the past year to address a range of priority issues:
- Enhancing access to mental health supports for children and youth
- Improving the response to sexual assault
- Creating a more coordinated approach to homelessness
- Supporting youth exiting child welfare services
- Reducing harmful alcohol consumption
- Creating greater coordination between mental health services
- Reducing isolation among older adults
Throughout the year, each action table will provide updates about its progress and impact. To learn more about our current action tables, please visit the Community Safety and Well-Being webpage on halton.ca.
Leadership from across the community
A leadership group comprised of Halton Region, HRPS, local health integration networks, hospitals, boards of education and local municipalities, support the overall direction of the Plan.
I would like to thank the nearly 50 organizations that have been involved during the initial phases of the Plan rollout, as well as the 500 residents, community partners and other stakeholders that provided input into the development of the Plan. By taking a collaborative and flexible approach to community safety and well-being planning, we can ensure that our community is prepared to respond to emerging issues so that Halton remains a great place to live, work, raise a family and retire. For more information on the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan, visit halton.ca.