Acute Mental Health Services

The needs of the Region 2 community, mental health reform in New Brunswick, and the range of services available across the regional mental health network are key determinants in the development of both program requirements and new, revised initiatives.

Acute Care Services consist of:

• Inpatient Acute Unit
• Short Stay Unit
• Emergency Mental Health Services
• Mobile Mental Health Crisis Service
• Ambulatory Mental Health Services
• TeleMental Health

Inpatient Acute Unit

The Inpatient Acute Unit has 23 beds.

Purpose: To provide quality inpatient care directed toward the reduction of psychiatric symptoms.

Short Stay Unit (SSU)

The Short Stay Unit was initiated in April of 1999.

Purpose: To provide patient-focused intensive treatment and crisis intervention. To focus on rapid de-escalation by reducing acute symptoms and stabilizing precipitating factors.

Emergency Mental Health Services (EMHS)

The Emergency Mental Health Services was initiated in November of 1997.

Purpose: To provide a psychiatric/mental health service for those in emotional distress who present themselves or are referred to the Emergency Department and for those receiving care in other programs who may be in need of mental health services.

Major Program Components:

• Assessment of those who present to the Emergency Department in emotional distress.
• Consultation service to those who are referred from other treatment programs.
• Emergency Room to Emergency Room TeleMental Health between EMHS and Rural Emergency rooms. Video conferencing is made possible through use of Interactive Real-time Imaging and Data Solution (IRIS)
• case reviews (Complex Clinical Case Conferences).

Mobile Mental Health Crisis Service (MMHCS)

The Mobile Mental Health Crisis Service was initiated in September of 1999.

Purpose: To provide interdisciplinary crisis intervention to clients wherever the crisis is occurring.

Mobile nurses respond to some calls by making an on-site visit within a 45 min. radius of the city. Since April 2002, after hours crisis calls to Community Mental Health Services in Charlotte County are responded to by MMHCS. For these calls, the on-call clinician makes the on-site visits if necessary.

Anyone may call the toll free number (1-888-811-3664) that connects the caller directly to the service.

Ambulatory Mental Health Services (AMHS)

The Ambulatory Mental Health Services was initiated in January of 1999.

Purpose: To provide interdisciplinary care for patients and their families who require intensive psychiatric/mental health services but do not require acute inpatient hospitalization.

Major Program Components:

• Program of Intensive Life Skills (PILS)
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
• Goals After PILS (GAP)

TeleMental Health

TeleMental Health was initiated in February of 2000 for adults and in June of 2000 for children and adolescents.

Purpose: To enhance Mental Health Services through the use of video conference.

Individuals are referred from the rural areas and appointments arranged for consultation depending on the urgency. In January 2002 an Emergency Service was initiated and linked the consultant at the Saint John Regional Hospital with the referred individual at the Charlotte County Hospital.