As voters weigh new plans to force more people into treatment for mental illness and addiction, the science to back up their proposals is far from settled
Most of the spaces at the Red Fish Healing Centre in Coquitlam, B.C., are for people who have checked in voluntarily for mental-health and substance-abuse problems. But there is also an enhanced care unit, the province's only facility of its kind, where up to 15 patients at a time can be kept against their will.
“It is messy and complicated, but the problem is not going away and they have to look at it different,” said Ms. Scott, whose son was imprisoned for shoplifting and admitted to hospitals for suicide attempts in his final years.
including in jails and hospitals, to provide involuntary care for those with concurrent addictions, mental illness and acquired brain injuries. Both leaders have brushed aside concerns that there is a dearth of evidence to support this approach. “Before we contemplate voluntary or involuntary treatment, I would like to see provinces and territories ensuring that they actually have treatment access scaled to need,” Ms. Saks said. “They are not there yet.”
Those brought in against their will must be certified under B.C.’s Mental Health Act, but some are also streamed to the centre by the courts while on bail or probation. “We can’t place them anywhere in any health authority’s available beds right now, so we will treat them, stabilize them,” he said.Red Fish is overseen by Vijay Seethapathy, at right with Provincial Health Services Authority president David Byres as they tour the Coquitlam facility.Two years before Red Fish officially opened, Dr.
All patients have comprehensive reviews of their progress by psychiatric staff at their second, fourth, sixth and eighth week marks, he said. “That was so frustrating because it had taken a lot of effort to get him there,” said Ms. Scott, a retired provincial bureaucrat who considered that placement a positive step.Seven more years of court hearings for petty thefts and hospital visits for suicide attempts followed before her son accepted the referral to Red Fish last April. Ms. Scott said she felt like she had won the lottery, and that he was in great spirits about the opportunity as she checked him out of jail.
Marina Morrow, chair of York University’s School of Health Policy and Management, has interviewed hundreds of involuntary patients over more than two decades – as well as the professionals at Red Fish – and has concluded that this model of care harms more than it helps. Systematic reviews led by scientists at the University of B.C. that examined treating substance use and mental illness concurrently – the model Red Fish follows – found such anDarryl Dyck/The Canadian Pressto the constitutional validity of B.C.’s Mental Health Act, initiated in 2016, continues today, with activists arguing the current system is not humane.
The analysis is tracking 1,500 people from the four facilities to analyze how and why they may be relapsing into addiction or backsliding into complex mental health crises months after their discharge.Supporters of involuntary treatment view it as showing compassion to people with mental health and addiction problems who are unable or unwilling to help themselves.
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