Salisbury Road named as site of provincial youth treatment centre in Moncton

A long-planned provincial centre of excellence for youth mental health in Moncton will be built on Salisbury Road and consist of eight beds, the Department of Health announced on Monday.

The centre, now being described as a provincial youth treatment centre,will provide specialized treatment for youth aged 12 to 18in anenvironment the department describes as "morehome-like than a traditional hospital setting."

Design work will begin in early 2023, with construction expected to take until 2026, according to a news release.

The centre, slated to cost$29.4 million, is an important piece of the province's mental health strategy for youth and will "greatly assist those who require this level of support," saidHealth Minister Bruce Fitch said in a statement.

Relocatedto Moncton in 2019

It was three years ago that the province announced plans to move the promised centreto Moncton from a facility that was about 90 per cent completein Campbellton.

"Relocating the centre to Moncton will increase access to the resources required to best meet the needs of young people struggling with mental health and addiction issues and address the urgent need for New Brunswick patients requiring treatment for addictions and rehabilitation in Campbellton," then-Health minister Ted Flemming said at the time.

The Campbellton facility was to be repurposed to expand access to residential addiction treatment, the government said at the time.

InterdisciplinaryVitalitteam

The property purchased for the Moncton centre is located at 933 Salisbury Rd., which includes parcel identification, or PID, numbers00936294,01032952, and 70235072, said Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson Tyler McLean.

The province purchased PID00936294, beside Kenneth E Spencer Memorial nursing home,from a major developer in Junefor $600,000.

The Department of Health selected the location with assistance from the Vitalit Health Network, said McLean.

Vitalit will operate the centre, which will have an interdisciplinary teamoverseeing therapeutic programs, according to Monday's news release.

Vitalit also operates the eight-bed Restigouche youth unitat the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton.

The Restigouche unit, established in 2018, offers specialized psychiatric care in a secure environment. It will continue to focus on forensic services and on supporting youth who require specialized care in a hospital setting.

"Both the Restigouche unit and the new centre will provide intensive support and services to youth with complex mental health needs but in different therapeutic environments," said Dr. France Desrosiers, Vitalit president and chief executive officer.

The addition of the new centre will also ensure specialized youth mental health services are available in both the north and south of the province, she added.

Fourteen years ago, then-Ombud and Child and Youth Advocate Bernard Richard'sConnecting the Dotsreport called for a centre of excellence for youth with highly complex needs.

"This centre of excellence could be located in a New Brunswick community and mandated to recruit and retain expert services in child and adolescent psychiatry, developmental psychology, audiology, speech pathology and other support services in matters of child welfare," the 2008 report said.