Connecting care with people

Photo: CAMH is testing an integrated youth services model of care.

We have opened a new 23-bed inpatient unit to help relieve pressures on CAMH’s Gerald Sheff & Shanitha Kachan Emergency Department while meeting the growing need for acute care. The unit emphasizes treatment for patients with both mental illness and addiction, and engages patients in therapeutic programming.

“This new unit is going to transform patients’ lives,” says Joselin Lai, a CAMH social worker and the first person hired for the unit.

Photo: Dr. Kristin Cleverley

We have launched a streamlined outpatient service for addiction and other psychiatric disorders called COMPASS that connects people with the best services for them in as quickly as one day.

Personalized medical and psychosocial interventions are delivered by a multi-disciplinary team that includes addiction medicine specialists, psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, social workers, psychotherapists and occupational therapists.

“By streaming patients through COMPASS, we are helping create a better experience for patients that minimizes duplication and standardizes care for addiction and concurrent disorders,” says COMPASS Manager Shannon Greene.