Tertiary Mental Health & Substance Use Services

During your stay in the Assessment and Treatment Unit, an interdisciplinary team will work with you to clarify your diagnosis, help you stabilize your mental and physical health, and create a recovery plan to help you get back to life outside. Assessment and Treatment is a secure unit with an average three to six months stay.

In addition to 1:1 meetings with members of your care team, a variety of groups will be available to you. Community meetings happen once a week and allow people on the unit to discuss concerns and have input into how the unit is run. We value your voice and feedback and ask that you attend these meetings.

The Healthy Living group happens after breakfast three mornings a week. The goal of this group is to help you learn strategies that support your recovery, including managing your time on the unit. Various other therapeutic activities are available on-site to support your recovery. 

These specialized mental health and substance use services are available to individuals who:

• Are age 19+ with persistent psychiatric disorder.
• May also have needs related to drugs or alcohol.
• Have psychiatric symptoms that affect day-to-day living.
• May show ongoing behaviours that put self or others at risk.
• Need a full assessment, treatment, stabilization and therapy.
• Need more intensive program resources.
• Have not responded to treatment in community or acute hospital care settings; or,
• Are age 65+ and have severe symptoms of dementia and/or have mental illness complicated by age-related medical frailty.

A person can access our tertiary services with a referral from a health-care practitioner to the VCH Tertiary Mental Health and Substance Use Central Access and Discharge Team.