Post: New Health Centre Marks A Return to Institutionalized Care
Posted by Jim on 6/25/08
New mental health centre marks a return to
institutionalized care
A new mental health facility will open its doors Friday at
the old Willingdon youth detention centre in Burnaby,
marking a move back to institutionalized care.
"It's a significant departure," newly named Housing and
Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said
yesterday. "Some people would call it
reinstitutionalization, and I don't actually argue with
that."
Coleman said he hasn't ruled out making changes to the
Mental Health Act to allow for more powers of committal.
A new mental health facility will open its doors Friday at
the old Willingdon youth detention centre in Burnaby. A
similar facility is scheduled to open at the old Riverview
Hospital site in Coquitlam by the end of this year.
For some, a move to institutionalized care may conjure
memories of abuse or mistreatment, but Coleman said it is
the right approach.
"We have a group of people that are very badly addicted to
something who also have severe mental health issues," he
said, explaining there are about 300 people in the province
who he thinks need the high-care level Willingdon can
provide.
"We need to be able to put you in a place where you have to
stay, where you are going to be taken care of -- we're
going to address your alcohol and drug addiction issues --
and we'll give you the time, a couple of years in some
cases, to actually address these issues," he said.
Coleman said Willingdon will have capacity for about 100
clients who will come to the facility voluntarily, through
a mental-health worker or through the community courts as
an alternative to incarceration.
The goal of the program will not be to cloister people with
mental health problems away from the world, but instead
to "stabilize them long-term within our society."
A similar facility is to open at the old Riverview Hospital
site in Coquitlam by the end of this year.
Elizabeth Zoffman, a psychiatrist who used to work at
Riverview, said Coleman's announcement raises "more
questions than it answers."
"What about the fact that you can't certify people who
aren't mentally ill? And you can't certify people who are
simply on drugs and alcohol? What about the fact that
judges can't mandate treatment? What about the fact that no
matter how long they stay, there isn't any place for them
to go?" she said.
New Democratic Party critic for homelessness and mental
health David Chudnovsky had other concerns.
The province falls short in serving the entire mental
health community, and a few hundred beds will only be the
beginning, he said.
"They're opening this facility, and it's a good idea to
provide that intensive treatment option, but there are
thousands of people who need less intensive treatment who
aren't getting what they need."
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- New Health Centre Marks A Return to Institutionalized Care, 6/25/08, by Jim.
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