Two new buildings will be constructed on the Riverview Lands to house the following three B.C. government programs. The Maples Adolescent Centre and the Provincial Assessment Centre will be located in the same building.

Centre for Mental Health and Addiction

A new purpose-built, 105-bed mental-health facility will replace the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, with an increase of 17 beds. Operated by the Provincial Health Services Authority, the project has an estimated capital budget of about $100 million and is expected to open in late 2019.

The new facility is a part of the Ministry of Health’s Mental Health Action Plan to expand resources for people with severe substance use and mental illness and acute, complex behaviours who experience barriers accessing care in primary and community care settings.

Programs that work to support the ministry’s action plan include:

• Assertive Community Treatment teams that provide long-term support and services to clients who are often already receiving services in a community setting.
• Assertive Outreach Team offers short-term intensive transition support, linking high needs patients from emergency rooms to the appropriate community care they need. Once that link to the community supports is well established, the team’s job is done.
• The Inner City Youth team offers intensive case management via health care, access to shelter, social support, and mental-health and addiction services to youth who are not formally connected to a mental health team.

Maples Adolescent Treatment Centre (Maples) / Provincial Assessment Centre (PAC)

Construction of a new facility, to accommodate the 28-bed Maples Adolescent Treatment Centre and the 10-bed Provincial Assessment Centre, is expected to begin in 2017. The capital cost is expected to be approximately $75 million.

The children and youth at the Maples are often traumatized and behaviourally-challenged and their surroundings – such as light, temperature, texture and colour – can play an integral role in their moods, sense of wellbeing and also impact their treatment. The current facility is outdated and showing signs of wear, so a new, modern facility that addresses these sensitivities will create a safe, positive atmosphere to better meet the needs of each client.

In addition, the new facility will also include the services the Province has developed for kids with complex needs including the Provincial Outreach Team and the six residential beds in the Complex Care Unit.

Operated by Community Living B.C., the Provincial  Assessment Centre is a short-term assessment and treatment stabilization service for youths 14 years of age and over, and adults who have a developmental disability, mental illness and behavioural support needs. The Centre provides expert support for individuals with multiple challenges to stay in a stable environment, generally over a 90-day period, and adjust supports with the goal of re-entry into their home community.

Now that the new site has been confirmed, CLBC will work closely with individuals, families and provincial networks to develop a thorough transitional plan to ensure that patients continue to receive consistent services when the new facility is ready.

The B.C. government is committed to providing the best supports for people facing challenges associated with mental illness and substance use and made it a priority to build a comprehensive system of these services across the province. In fact, improved mental-health and substance-use services are one of the major areas of focus in government’s strategy to strengthen health care in B.C.

The Ministry of Health invests more than $1.42 billion per year in mental-health and substance-use services. These services vary depending on the type and severity of a patient’s problems, but in general, B.C.’s mental-health and substance-use system provides care through: mental-health promotion strategies; targeted prevention and risk/harm-reduction strategies; community-based services; and inpatient care.

The Centre for Mental Health and Addiction opening on the Riverview site is just one service among many offered to adults faced with mental illness and substance use concerns. Others include:

• The Ministry of Health’s $25.25-million action plan to address the needs of people with severe substance use or mental illness, which includes an Assertive Outreach Team in Vancouver; an Acute Behavioural Stabilization Unit at St. Paul’s Hospital; new bed-based services for adults and youth across the province, and additional Intensive Case Management and Assertive Community Treatment teams in various communities.
• The new $57-million Joseph and Rosalie Segal Centre in Vancouver, which consolidates mental-health programs and services delivered by Vancouver General Hospital under one roof – opening in 2017.
• A new 75-bed mental-health and substance-use facility at the redeveloped Royal Columbian Hospital site, set to open in 2019.
• The new HOpe Centre for Psychiatry and Education in North Vancouver, which provides integrated services for clients who require hospital care and outpatient services, made possible by $38 million in government support.
• The Bounce Back Program, a free, skill-building program for adults experiencing low mood or stress, with or without anxiety, made possible by $16.6 million in government support since 2007.
• Hillside Centre in Kamloops, a 47-bed facility providing mental-health services to adults and seniors with acute or significant mental-health challenges, with a focus on diagnosis, stabilization, rehabilitation and return to home and developed with $17 million from government.
• Integrated primary and community-care programs within regional health authorities, supported by $50 million in annual government funding over three years.
• A close to $500 million dollar commitment from government to build more than 2,100 new supportive housing units, which provide integrated services to help people succeed in meeting complex challenges such as mental illnesses, addictions, and/or homelessness.
• And in 2013, government announced the creation of 500 additional substance-use spaces by 2017.

These are just some of the many mental health and substance use supports available to British Columbians.

For more information on these and other services visit: www.bcmhsus.ca