IWK plans to open new mental health and addictions clinic at Mic Mac Mall - Action News
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Nova Scotia

IWK plans to open new mental health and addictions clinic at Mic Mac Mall

Families with children who need help with an addiction or mental health issue should soon be able to get help at a new clinic the IWK Health Centre is opening at Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth to provide easier access.

About 40 people will work at the clinic located in former Winners location

Insulation panels on the outside of a block of a building.
Mic Mac Mall is expanding the space that used to be home to a Winners store to accommodate IWK mental health and addictions services. (Jean Laroche/CBC)

Children and youth who need help for an addiction ormental health issuecould have access to a new clinic in Dartmouth sometime in 2025.

An IWKHealth Centre staff ofroughly 40 people will provide mental health and addictions services in Mic Mac Mall in an expanded space that used to be home to a Winners store.

Maureen Brennan, who oversees those services, said patients will have access to a multidisciplinary team.

"We'll be offering a full suite of services by a large variety of mental health and addictions clinicians that include psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, youth care workers, recreation therapists, and child and adolescent psychiatrists," Brennan said in an interviewThursday.

The clinic will provide individual treatment and group therapy for children, youth, parents and caregivers, she said.

Locating a clinic in a mall is a first for the IWK, but Brennan saidthe Dartmouth location was chosen for its ease of access.

"It makes sense that we locate clinics across all of HRM so that families will not have to come downtown to the IWK Health Centre to look for parking," she said.

"It's very accessible, lots of parking and it's a real opportunity for us to create a therapeutic and trauma-informed space in a new way."

Staff will be made up of clinicians and support personnel from other IWK clinics inHalifax, Bedford, Lower Sackville and Dartmouth, and include new or just-hired employees.

There are no plans to close any of the othersites, Brennan said.

"We'll be looking at a few of those clinicians out ofeach of those officesand we'll be recruiting into those new positions."

The hospital first started looking for new space in June 2020 when it issued a public tender. Brennan said when that proved unsuccessful, the hospital hired a leasing agent to conduct the search that eventually led to the Mic Mac Mall site.

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Corrections

  • An earlier version of this story said the clinic could open in the fall. In fact, the clinic is expected to open sometime in 2025. CBC News was provided with incorrect information.
    Jul 05, 2024 2:50 PM AT