The Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, which is expected to open in the fall of 2021, is an upcoming facility to help people who struggle with mental health problems, as well as addictions, according to a CBC article. I believe that this is a very good idea, as there are people struggling with mental health in Calgary, and it isn’t just an issue adults face.

One unique idea the CBC article mentions about the project is that the people using the project will be able to sleep in their own homes at night. While I personally do not have much experience with mental health issues, I do find it more comfortable to sleep in my own room then somewhere completely new. I believe that idea would be useful to those dealing with mental health issues, if they feel the same way I do about sleeping arrangements, it would be a much more comfortable situation for the patients.

One aspect about this program that Alberta Health Services mentioned is that it will not have any beds for overnight stays. While it would be nice to have beds for overnight stays if the patient needs that type of therapy, Alberta Health Services said there are other places in Calgary that do have overnight stays, such as Alberta Children’s Hospital. According to the CBC article, David Weyant, who is an AHS board chair, said that the facility will make sure that patients that were hospitalized have a smooth transition back into the community, as well as going helping patients return home earlier, which suggests to me that the facility is meant to help people leave a hospitalized environment. Also, while it would be ideal for one place to have everything needed for mental health treatment, I’m not sure if that’s possible, so maybe leaving out overnight treatment is a good place to stop. Overall, while it would be nice if they included inpatient treatment if needed, there are places to cover that part of treatment.

There are several aspects of the program I like. The first aspect is the fact that they chose to include not only the thoughts of mental health centres worldwide when designing the program, but also the thoughts of young people and the families of young people who live in Calgary, according to the CBC article. I feel as though that it’s important, because while there is information to be gained from people who have had built similar facilities before, there is also the consideration of what would work specifically where the facility would be. For example, let’s just hypothetically say that there were no beds for youths that need inpatient care. That issue could come up when talking about issues that should be addressed, and maybe The Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health would include inpatient care. However, since there are places for inpatient mental health care in Calgary, the people designing the facility may not have considered it to be important.

Overall, I like the idea of the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. I would like to see how mental health in Calgary improves after the facility is open.

References
Alberta Health Services (May 25,2018) “Calgary Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health”. Retrieved from https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/about/capitalprojects/ahs-cp-calgary-ccamh-q-and-a.pdf
Valleau, N. (Nov. 23, 2019). CBC. ‘Critical Lifesaving Project:’ New mental health centre for youth to open in Calgary. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/centre-child-adolescent-mental-health-calgary-addiction-1.5369854