Packed house at meeting for downtown mental health centre

It was standing room only at the Downtown Windsor Business Accelerator where a public meeting was held Thursday to reveal details of the new mental health facility expected to open next door within the next six months.

"In recent years we've seen cuts in funding so it's super exciting to see re-introduction of funding in mental health services," said Eva Kratochvil who lives in the area.

Htel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) hosted the session for the Transitional Stability Centre (TSC) at the Downtown Windsor Business Accelerator, the building attached to where the new facility will be located.

The TSC will have up to 50 beds and is scheduled to open in the spring. It will serve people between 18 and 65 years old with mental illness and addiction.

The program will gradually be phased in, starting with a day treatment program and will eventually expand to the residential program.

"We don't have those tight timelines yet," said Bill Marra, spokesperson for the HDGH. "We expect the construction to take anywhere between five to six months."

TSC will be a voluntary alternative to a hospital emergency room.

"It's for individuals who are not at risk for harming themselves nor are they at risk to harming others," said Marra. "More often than not [the hospital] is not where they belong, they don't belong in the emergency room, typically these folks don't have a handle on where they should go, or could go for assistance and this is a much more viable alternative," he said.

Windsor police are also standing behind the centre.

"It is another resource for Windsor Police Service in our mandate in assisting with people in a mental health crisis," said Al Frederick, Windsor's police chief. "This doesn't pose any public safety risk at all to the community."

The local health integration network is providing $1.8 million to fund the new centre.

The inner city strategy is modelled after one in Fort Myers, Fla.