Young adult mental-health unit opens at Royal Jubilee

In a first for the province, young people needing treatment for their mental-health conditions now have an age-appropriate unit to care for them at the Royal Jubilee Hospital—a 16-bed ward for young adults between the ages of 17 and 26.

“I think it's a step in the right direction and a service that we've needed for a long time,” said Harveen Dhaliwal, manager of the Young Adult Mental Health Unit, which officially opened yesterday, although it has been in service to some degree since mid-November.

“I think what we're hoping for the future is to really take away the learnings and share with other regions as well so that they can incorporate services similar to this in their region,” she said.

Previously, young people were grouped with people of all ages, which often was a glove that did not fit, Claire Jaenen, the unit’s clinical coordinator tells Capital Daily.

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“I think some of the biggest differences is that the young adult cohort, they just present differently, and therefore they need different approaches to care for them,” she says.

In addition, some of the new patients haven't been in the system before, so the experience is new and sometimes daunting not only to them but to their families.

In 2021, the province estimated that 2,200 people lacked complex-care housing services. Gaps in the system have led to some tragic situations, such as the heartbreaking case of Simon Stubbs, a biracial transgender man with Type 1 diabetes, developmental delays, and mental-health struggles whose life was derailed in a series of wait and see, as his destiny toiled in a system that couldn’t offer him the help he needed.

The Royal Jubilee’s new unit has been a long time coming and offers therapeutic programs that provide care and support recovery goals, and new group programming focused on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Relaxation Movement, and other services.

“The groups provide lots of structures, skills, and tools for coping with various emotions that they may be experiencing,” Dhaliwal said.

“It's empowering, and it fosters independence,” she said.

Reconfigured from the existing 58-bed general psychiatry unit, the space has been built into a warm, welcoming area, complete with a workout and calming rooms.

“With the environment of a hospital, it can be quite intimidating and uncomfortable feeling, and we wanted to make it calming and welcoming so that we could provide the therapeutic interventions in an environment that was supportive to all of everyone's well-being,” said Jaenen, who’s been working for more than two years on the nascent program.

Patients aged 17-26 will be referred from the psychiatric emergency department, or other medical-surgical units within the Jubilee or Vic General, Jaenen said.

They must be experiencing a first and/or active episode of psychosis or mood disorder or be having an exacerbation of an existing psychotic or mood disorder. They also must be able to benefit from specialized assessment and recovery-focused programming so they can reintegrate into the community and be medically stable.

“When youth and young adults experience a mental-health crisis, they need access to wraparound supports and care specifically designed for people their age,” said Grace Lore, the minister for Children and Family Development.