Exit Route: An Innovative Canadian Model of Social Work-Police Co-Location and Co-Response

In 2022, Victim Services Toronto (VST) and the Toronto Police Service (TPS) piloted a co-response model to provide community support in response to Toronto’s dense population. Exit Route, the model, focused on placing crisis intervention counselors—trained to support individuals experiencing trauma—within Toronto police divisions and specialized police units. The initiative targeted neighborhoods with high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and human trafficking (HT), as gender-based violence victims comprise over 75 percent of VST’s client base, a significant portion of TPS emergency calls, and reflect the growing epidemic of gender-based violence in Toronto and across Ontario. After describing Exit Route, this session will discuss how the program has expanded and the profound impact it has made.