The provincial government announced funding to fill a gap in mental health care in the Saint John region.
Justice Minister Rob McKee, also the minister responsible for addictions and mental health services, committed $6.3 million to build an in-patient psychiatry unit for children and youth at the Saint John Regional Hospital.
“Each year about 80 to 120 young people require hospitalization for psychiatric needs,” McKee said at an announcement Monday. “Yet they have to be admitted to adult or pediatric units or travel to other parts of the province for care.”
Currently only Moncton has this kind of unit.
Five beds will be added in Saint John, providing immediate, specialized, trauma-informed treatment and ensuring patients receive care while maintaining family and community connections.
“The model developed by Horizon Health Network is comprehensive, designed to meet the unique needs of young people and create a safe therapeutic environment for patients, families and staff,” McKee said.
McKee said it’s important to invest in help for children and youth in order to prevent crises later in life that can be more costly or tragic.
“If we can help them early on in their personal situations then it goes a long way in helping them get ahead in life,” he said.
Horizon Health CEO Margaret Melanson said the goal is to have the beds open by mid-2026 at the latest.
Melanson said the new unit could see around 50 patients per year, maybe more.
“When these children are admitted, these are typically lengthy admissions,” Melanson said.
Horizon Health CEO Margaret Melanson Image: Bryan Tait/Acadia Broadcasting
“For a child to have reached that crisis point that they require admission to hospital for them to be managed and supported, really indicates that their situation has come to the point that there is a lengthy plan involved both in stabilizing these children for whatever reason that brought them to hospital, but also ensuring that we have a supportive plan in place prior to their discharge.”
Health Minister John Dornan said there are good people working in Saint John now, but there’s no appropriate facility for this kind of work.
“We do not have the resources here,” he said. “They’re transferred somewhere else or they go to a pediatric floor or they go to a neonatal floor.”
Dr. Dinesh Bhalla, the physician program lead for addiction and mental health, said the patients who would require care in this type of unit usually have psychosis, severe behavourial problems, deal with drug use and may be suicidal.
“These patients need time away to be stabilized, and that could include medication, psychological assessments,” he said.
Bhalla said services for youth can make all the difference in their lives.
“In countries where they have better services in the community, certainly they get access to better care,” he said. “I think our main mandate should, right now, be having more addiction services for youth available.”
