Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

From the March 28th edition of the Capital District Mental Health Program's Mental Health Happenings:

The Mental Health Program and the Department of Psychiatry are opening a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the East Coast Forensic Hospital (ECFH). This is for short-term stabilization of highly-agitated individuals, admitted to other mental health units with involuntary status, who are exhibiting aggressive and harmful behaviour towards others on their current unit. On April 1, 2011, the PICU will open for patients from inpatient psychiatry units in Capital Health. Referrals will be from the current attending psychiatrist to an ECFH psychiatrist.

The Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit is located in one of the Rehabilitation Units at the East Coast Forensic Hospital. The PICU has six single bedrooms, a spacious dayroom with lots of natural light, and a secure patio area. The whole of ECFH is specifically designed to create a calming atmosphere. The unit is staffed by clinicians who work effectively with a population whose specific needs include de-escalation of behaviours that pose a risk for harm to themselves and others.

The PICU will soon become a provincial resource - open to all the district health authorities across the province. Referrals will be made by a physician in the referring district, usually a psychiatrist, to a psychiatrist at the East Coast Forensic Hospital.

Please find attached the referral form and patient information handbook [actually a handbook for families]. [Links to these two documents are found below.]

If you have any questions, please contact James MacLean or Dr. Scott Theriault [460-7343; scott.theriault@cdha.nshealth.ca].

You are also welcome to call or email either of us.

Thank you.

Peter and Nick

Peter Croxall, Director
Capital Health Mental Health Program
464-4147
peter.croxall@cdha.nshealth.ca

Nick Delva, Professor and Head
Dalhousie University Department of Psychiatry
473-2464
Nicholas.Delva@cdha.nshealth.ca

PICU Handbook - March 2011

PICU Referral - March 2011


Photo credit

SSNS's 21st Annual Conference: Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System

The Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia’s 21st Annual Conference was held on Thursday, October 1st. The theme of this year's conference was Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System, with a focus on mental health courts.

To download a PDF verson of the Conference Program, please click here.

The plenary speaker was Judge Alfred H. Brien of the Saint John Mental Health Court.

Dr. Ruth Carter (right), Director of Forensic Services, IWK Health Centre, and Kimberley Brennan, Acting Manager of Forensic Services, IWK Health Centre, making a presentation on youth and the justice system.

Dr. P. Scott Theriault, Clinical Director, East Coast Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, Clinical Director, Specialty Programs, Capital District Mental Health Program, and Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, presenting on lack of insight.

Judge Brien answering a question from the audience during the Questions from the Audience / Panel Discussion session. Seated beside Judge Brien is the keynote speaker, Judith McPhee, Executive Director, Policy and Information Management, Nova Scotia Department of Justice.

Members of the panel listening to a question from the audience during the Questions from the Audience / Panel Discussion session. Panel members, from left to right, are Judge Brien, Judith McPhee, Patrick Burke (moderator), Kimberley Brennan, Dr. Carter, and Dr. Theriault.

The conference was held in the Ashley Lounge at the Sea King Club in Shearwater, Nova Scotia.

Conference Master of Ceremonies, Laura Burke (left), with Patrick Burke, a member of the Board of Directors of the Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia.

The Recovery Quilt on display at the conference. Congratulations to Dorothy Gregor, the winner of the Recovery Quilt raffle!

Nancy Vidito, the producer of Podium TV, taped both Judge Brien's and Judith McPhee's presentations for broadcast on EastLink Television in late October 2009.

Please click on any photograph to enlarge it.

All photographs by Stephen Ayer.

Conference Supporters

www.mylan.com

www.mentalhealthns.ca

www.gov.ns.ca/just