New mental health program coming to Htel-Dieu Grace hospital

Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare will soon be adding a new program to its mental health and addiction services.

The partial hospitalization program is a "highly structured, short-term treatment" that will be offered to people 16 years and older who suffer from persistent, acute mental illness, according to the hospital.

"It meets a specific target population of folks who require that very structured, intensive type of intervention and what we want to do again [to] enable individuals to go live independently or with a quasi-support within the community," said Sonja Grbevski, vice president for mental health and addictions at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH).

Similar programs have existed in the past, but HDGH's CEO Janice Kaffersays cuts had to be made to programs and healthcare services in the first few months of the pandemic.

"What was realized is that we had an opportunity and obligation to provide hundreds of more individuals with the mental health and addictions support they need in continuing to create a high-quality, accessible, local mental health and addictions system people can count on," Kaffer said.

The partial hospitalization program is one of several innovative programs HDGH's Adult Mental Health and Addictions team has been developing since the opening of The Mental Health and Addictions Urgent Care Centre.

It comes a month after the provincial government announced HDGH would be included as part of the $60 billion in funding for infrastructure projects across Ontario.

"This here will give those folks an opportunity to transition into the community, still have the supportive intensive treatment, but again, residing in the community and this way individuals can function, perform, normalize their life," said Grbevski.

"Being institutionalized is one thing, living in the community is a whole other thing."

While no opening date has been set, HDGH aims to have the program running by the end of this year.