New initiative announced in the Westshore to boost services for mental health and substance use

A new care hub in the Westshore will help reach more people in need of mental health and addictions services.

On Wednesday, regional MLAs and representatives from Island Health launched the Westshore Mental Health and Substance Use Hub, a timely event, just three days out from Overdose Awareness Day. Located at 681 Allandale Rd. in Colwood, the hub will be open five days a week, offering community-based care, same-day walk-in or call-in counselling and assessments, care planning, integrated services, and referrals to higher levels of care. 

The soft launch is a long-awaited move for the hub’s 400 existing clients and 1,500 others who were receiving single-session services out of the CARE offices in the St. Anthony’s building at 582 Goldstream Ave. 

Community care hubs like this one allow teams to work in tandem, fostering a more holistic approach to care beyond traditional medical interventions. For people who require ongoing support, the hub will connect clients with a personal care coordinator and tailored services to help meet their individual needs. 

“It’s more than a medical facility. It’s a place of connection, support, and hope,” said Leah Hollins, chair for the Island Health board of directors.

The new facility enhances and integrates existing mental health and addiction services in the Westshore communities, making care more comprehensive and accessible. “I know how important it is that we have these services here locally in the community. It’s really important to have a location in the Westshore. . . when they need them and where they need them, ” said MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin, Mitzi Dean.

The hub’s team includes experts in psychiatry, addiction medicine, nursing, counselling, occupational therapy, and peer support who can work together to provide more holistic care. And because people’s needs will change over time, the team will adapt its care plan to ensure consistent and ongoing support throughout a person’s recovery. 

This client-centred, cross-disciplinary model was developed, said Dean, in consultation with Indigenous communities to ensure services are culturally informed and relevant. The high level of coordination and cooperation ensures that everyone has access to care that is a best fit for them.

“We know from the research and from experience that it’s those relationships that really count and having that consistent relationship and that supportive non-stigmatizing, non-threatening relationship with somebody being able to guide you through services and help access the services that are best going to meet your needs is really important in delivering success for people,” said Dean, a former social worker.  

The location in Colwood reduces barriers for people who would otherwise have to go to downtown Victoria for care. Janine Theobald, executive director of Mental Health Recovery Partners - South Island said, “I am really excited to be here today because this development of having this space as part of a continuum of care where people are is so very important.” 

Ravi Parmar, MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca said, “Too many times when you’re looking to access services you have to head over to Victoria and often you say not today, not tonight, maybe tomorrow and we know you’re looking to access mental health services, that is life threatening.” 

And it’s not just about where the hub was built but how it was built.

Dean also said she recognized that as a trauma-informed service delivery, the physical environment needs to be thought through. Crystal Fee, a registered health education nurse told The Westshore, “I’ve worked for Island Health for more than 20 years and this is the first time I have worked in a purpose-built community space. Often these spaces aren’t built with such a high level of thought because the people we work with aren’t that highly thought of. It feels very respectful.” 

Specialized infrastructure elements at the hub include counselling rooms with two doors so clients can exit discreetly and whenever they need to, extensive sound-proofing and sound-sealed, floor to ceiling doors for added confidentiality. 

Theobald also raised the benefit of the hub’s prevention of the need for acute responses because people are able to access services in advance of needing higher levels of care.

When asked about the duration of client care at the hub, the coordinator of services Jeremiah Bach explained that clients get services as long as they need them, “but not for longer. Dependency doesn’t lead to good care or good lives.”  Program manager Mary Morrison, described the approach to The Westshore as psycho-social rehabilitation and a braided recovery model that doesn’t see substance use and mental health as separate but concurrent. “We’re helping people to live their lives in a safety net kind of way,” Morrison said.  “If they need to come back, they come back.”

The model and environment of the hub encourages connection between staff by providing learning and sharing opportunities but also between clients who can share, through peer support programs, their lived experiences and the resources they have encountered. For Tracey Taylor, community team lead of peer support, that kind of experience was for her, “life altering. A place like this, pretty much saved my life. They opened the doors and allowed me in when I needed it most. What happens in these places is magic.” 

“This is going to be great,” Taylor said.