On World Mental Health Day, Southlake Regional Health Centre is proud to celebrate serving more than 180 patients in its new 12-bed adult inpatient Mental Health unit since opening in February 2023. The new unit and expanded space has enabled Southlake to increase group therapy and make other programming available to patients during their inpatient stay, guaranteeing access to these therapies earlier in the recovery journey.
“Before the new unit opened, Southlake did not have any private patient rooms available on the general inpatient mental health unit,” said Stella Johnson, Director, Emergency and Mental Health program at Southlake. “Now, the new unit has 12 private patient rooms available, allowing us to positively impact the patient’s experience and stay. Improved access to natural light and group therapy spaces on the new unit has also contributed to overall enhanced inpatient mental health visits at Southlake.”
Since the unit opened, patients, family members, staff, advisors, and community partners have expressed the positive impact the new space has had for people living with mental illness.
“On multiple occasions, we have received heartfelt thank you’s and words of appreciation from both our patients and our family members,” said Brandon Brown, Clinical Manager, Adult Inpatient Mental Health. “Our patients are grateful, our staff feel supported to provide the best care and our community partners appreciate the thought that went into their role in the patient journey when we created the space. It has truly been incredible to see the impact space can make.”
Southlake continues to leverage an incredible local community of mental health partners to support patients after discharge through outpatient supports in the community. More than 120 of the 186 patients who have received care on Southlake’s new unit have been discharged home with the appropriate community supports they need.
QUICK FACTS
- The added capacity provided through the new inpatient mental health unit enables Southlake to serve more than 2,000 patients each year across 41 dedicated mental health beds.
- The new unit was made possible thanks to $7.5 million in donor support and $6.5 million from the Ontario government.
