Engagement Report

We are pleased to share with you the Tertiary MHSU Mandate Review Engagement Report. We would like to thank you for your time and participation in the engagement. Your input directly informed changes to the mandate, including:

• Expanding the admission criteria to include clients with mental health needs who may also have substance use needs
• Including consultation with families and community teams when TMHSU care teams decide clients have met their care goals and are ready to transition to community
• Using clear, simple language to describe the mandate
• Including a description of Tertiary care in the mandate
• Using positive, inclusive language to describe admission criteria, and
• Clarifying the referral pathway into Tertiary services.

Your input has been shared with program leadership, who are now looking at how they can provide more training for staff and medical staff to better support clients’ physical and mental health as well as improve communication with clients and families. Also, the emphasis will be on the importance of non-judgemental support, cultural safety and culturally appropriate care.

Project Background

The current VCH Tertiary MHSU service mandates were created in 2010 when the Health Authority was planning to decentralize services provided at Riverview Hospital. In a review of TMHSU in 2018, the following changes in the client populations were noted:

1. an increase in complexity of the Adult population - clients with both severe and enduring mental illness along with severe substance use
2. a marked shift in the older adult population - clients with severe and enduring mental illness along with dementia.

VCH is now reviewing the TMHSU program mandates in order to address this and to update and expand programs offered to patients with different needs as needed.

The TMHSU programs included in this mandate review are:

• Willow Pavilion 3 and 4 (Adult Assessment and Treatment Services)
• Willow Pavilion 5 (Older Adult Assessment and Treatment Services)
• Willow Pavilion 2 and Sumac Place (Adult Rehabilitation Services)
• Segal 4 (Intensive Tertiary Rehabilitation Services), and
• Sumac Place.

Initial engagement has been conducted with TMHSU Rehabilitation leaders, and now the project leaders would like to hear from clients, families and other stakeholders.

Who do we need to hear from?

We are seeking input from up to 20 persons with lived or living experience (either personal lived experience or as a family member / caregiver) of the tertiary mental health and substance use services at VCH.

The engagement will include review of the current mandate, questions of proposed revisions for the mandate to meet the needs of the population and program operation, and questions about the strategic operational changes required to achieve the future mandate. A list of discussion questions will be sent to participants in advance of each consultation.

Honorarium: Participants will receive a $20/hour honorarium (the engagement sessions are expected to be around 1.5 hours or two hours). The project team will need participants' SIN number and mailing address in order to process honoraria.

How will your input be used?

Input from the engagement with clients and caregivers / family members will inform the TMHSU mandate revisions and strategic changes needed to support the new mandate. It is important that TMHSU rehabilitation services meet the needs of the TMHSU clients from diverse backgrounds. The engagement will begin in early October, and project leads will be able to report back on the findings of engagement in early 2022.

Engagement will be in the format of either small meetings or individual interviews. If interested, please complete the short form below, and someone from the engagement team will contact you shortly.