A catalyst donation of $25 million by Myron and Berna Garron will support a reimagined therapeutic environment for IWK mental health and addictions intensive services in the community, the final component of an Ecosystem for Child & Adolescent Mental Health and Addictions (Mental Health and Addictions Ecosystem).
The IWK will create a therapeutic environment that will bring together intensive mental health and addictions services for those children and youth who are very sick but do not require inpatient care. These patients may require intensive rehabilitative interventions, over longer periods of time, beyond what can be offered in an outpatient clinic.
Why is a reimagined therapeutic environment urgently needed?
Currently, these intensive services are fragmented, spread out across the region and can be difficult to access. Children and youth requiring this intensive level of service are cared for in spaces that are not conducive to healing with waitlists that can result in their condition worsening before they can access care.
A reimagined therapeutic healing environment for mental health intensive services, that ensures collaboration among care team members and is easily accessible from across the region, is urgently needed to care for these children and youth.
We have learned a lot from our Garron Centre, where a state-of-the-art environment has led to outstanding care and outcomes. We have the people and the wonderful teams to make intensive mental health and addictions services transformation possible. We now need to focus on our spaces to support the delivery of excellence in care for our children, youth and families who need more specialized and intensive treatment.
~Dr. Alexa Bagnell, IWK Chief of Psychiatry