Six months earlier, Seperich found herself homeless.
Seperich is one of thousands of British Columbians who have stabilized and improved their lives at one of Coast Mental Health’s more than 50 residential facilities in Metro Vancouver.
Some people might find it surprising to learn that, as one of B.C.’s largest providers of housing for people with mental illness, Coast Mental Health does not have psychiatrists on staff or regularly visiting its facilities.
Coast Mental Health facilities are staffed by trained workers, with 24-hour staffing at some sites.
Coast staffers help residents build life skills to aid their recovery, help them live more independently, and, in some cases, gain employment, said Coast spokeswoman Susan Hancock.
But nowadays, Burnham said, clients generally come straight from the street, with no connection to the formal health-care system.
MacEwan, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of B.C., said there’s good reason to believe that by providing earlier, better access to psychiatric help, patients can stabilize and improve before they reach a crisis.
Red Fish, with 105 beds, will replace the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, which is being decommissioned, for a net increase of only 11 beds.
Now she’s happy, stable, and has been working again, as a peer support worker and doing cleaning at the facility where she lives.
“We don’t have that extra support here, you’re on your own, you have to take your own initiative to go visit the psychiatrist or doctor.
Ismail recalls one of her neighbours tried to see a psychiatrist last month when she felt unwell, but wasn’t able to get an appointment.
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