Nova Scotia inches toward opening youth mental health centres

A long list of community groups are queued up to help the Nova Scotia government open walk-in mental health centres for young people across the province by 2027.

Youth aged 12 to 25 will be able to drop in for mental health and addictions counselling and other services without having to book an appointment.

The model, known as integrated youth services, was developed in Australia and is used in several other provinces.

The Department of Mental Health and Addictions first announced last fall they were working to create seven new centres, in addition to one that already exists in Eskasoni.

Run by community groups

In a news release Wednesday, the province said it would spend $8.4 million to get the sites up and running. An additional $10 million has been committed by donors, including the IWK Foundation, Medavie Foundation and the Bell-Graham Boeck Foundation Partnership.

The province also announced where six of the new centres will be located and the groups that will run them:

• Amherst: YMCA Cumberland, Maggie’s Place, In the Works, Cumberland County Transition House/Autumn House, Autism Nova Scotia, Cumberland Restorative Justice Society, Municipality of Cumberland County, Town of Amherst and Eating Disorders Nova Scotia;
• Bridgewater: YMCA Southwest Nova Scotia, John Howard Society of Nova Scotia, South Shore Sexual Health, Schools Plus and South Shore Open Doors Association;
• West end Halifax: YWCA Halifax, MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning, Prescott Group Society and The Youth Project;
• North end Halifax: Halifax YMCA, One North End, North End Community Health Centre and Hope Blooms;
• New Glasgow: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Pictou County, Pictou County Roots for Youth Society, John Howard Society of Nova Scotia, Pictou County Community Health Centre and YMCA of Pictou County;
• Sydney: New Dawn Enterprises, Undercurrent Youth Society, Whitney Pier Youth Club and Cape Breton Project Society.

The location of a facility in the western health zone has yet to be announced.

Dedicated clinician at each site

Daphne Hutt–MacLeod, the director of integrated youth services with the IWK Health Centre, said each centre will have a mental health and addictions clinician, a full-time and a part-time youth peer support worker, a community outreach worker, a family support worker, an administrative assistant, a part-time occupational therapist or recreational therapist and a part-time research assistant from the IWK.

Outside of the core offering of mental health and addictions support, the services offered at each centre will vary. Some will include primary health care, recreational therapy and housing support.

Hutt-MacLeod said everything will be offered with the intention of supporting mental wellness, and will cater to the community’s specific needs.

“Because [the centres] are going to be co-created and co-designed with youth, families and the communities, they will be resonant with each of those groups,” she said in an interview.

Hutt-MacLeod said she hopes at least two centres will open before the end of this year, but she would not say which two. 

A lack of available skilled labour and construction material needed to complete renovations are two “big hurdles,” she said.

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Brian Comer said he expects another two of the centres to open in 2025 and the rest by 2027.

Comer said the centres are part of the PC government’s pledge to provide universal mental health care.

“Wanting universal access for Nova Scotians, especially for youth, is a significant priority of the government, so it’s certainly something we’ll continue to support.”