Mental Health Crisis Care Clinic Proposed

Health officials are proposing a crisis care clinic is to help improve mental health care in the Saint John region.

Dr. Laurie Potter, chief psychiatrist at the Saint John Regional Hospital, outlined the idea during a recent Horizon Health Network board meeting.

“I don’t think it’s confidential information to know that several of the suicides we have had recently in our community have been very public, very tragic,” said Potter.

“Our counterparts in government are reaching out to us and asking for thoughts on what’s happening and on what we think we can do to help alleviate that situation.”

This led to a meeting last week between Horizon officials, Premier Blaine Higgs, Health Minister Ted Flemming, Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard and Education Minister Dominic Cardy, where the crisis care clinic was one of several ideas proposed.

Potter said the proposed clinic would fill a “noticeable gap” in mental health services for what she describes as Level 2 and Level 3 patients.

“You’re not sick enough to need to be in a bed in the hospital but you can’t wait eight months to see someone in for therapy,” she said. “It’s those sort of group that right now are homeless, for lack of a better word.”

“They are the group that’s going to the bridge because the only place they have to go is the emergency department.”

Potter said the issue is not unique to Saint John, adding chiefs of psychiatry across the province are seeing the same thing they are.

When a patient is in crisis, she said, they need “intensive wraparound services” to carry them through, which doesn’t belong in the ER.

“They need a team to really support them through the crisis,” Potter said. “When we stabilize them, they then can go on to other resources. If they escalate, then they could be admitted to hospital.”

Potter said the proposed clinic would be similar to a model she implemented in Ontario, which has seen a “wonderful” success rate.