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Because your voice matters.

Participant, Central Okanagan Wellness Centre Focus Group

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Open to Interior Region, Patient partners in the Central Okanagan area

Last updated

Join this focus group to give us your ideas about how we can make our new mental health and substance use clinic into a place you would want to go.

Open to: Patient partners in the Central Okanagan area

Lead Organization or Department

Interior Health

Aim

  • To get ideas around how we can be a service that is easy to access, communicates well with patients, and wraps up services with clients in a positive way.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of consult on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will listen to and acknowledge your ideas and concerns, and provide feedback on how your input affected the decision.

Eligibility

  • Patients who have had experience with mental health and/or substance use concerns would be an asset.
  • Patients who have had experience accessing other mental health and substance use services would also be of benefit.
  • A range in age, gender and cultural background is preferable.
If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and Volunteer Agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact the engagement leader directly.

Logistics

  • Vacancies: 8-10
  • One time event, in-person
  • This session will be held during the second week in March; Date and time to be determined
  • 1.5 hour event
  • Location: Kelowna (505 Doyle Avenue)

Reimbursement

Expenses and travel costs will be reimbursed as per the Interior Health policy. Expenses must be pre-approved and receipts must be provided.

Background

We are a new community clinic in Kelowna that supports family doctors in providing care for patients with mental health and substance use problems.  We offer counselling, social work, nursing, group therapy, and specialized physician consultation. The goal of the clinic is to help people who are starting to experience problems and prevent things from getting worse. We see people for 3 months and then connect them back to their family doctor with recommendations. People can come back to our clinic without another referral if they need to. The opportunity to develop a new service within the Central Okanagan arose from a survey conducted by family doctors in 2016 indicating that mental health and substance use (MHSU) patients' needs exceed the capacity of local family doctors to provide adequate and timely care. In addition, the Ministry of Health noted that there is an increasing population of MHSU patients requiring service and the demands are outstripping the resources. If left without treatment and enhanced support, these patients are at risk of requiring chronic long-term MHSU specialized care or acute services. This care setting is a community based mental health and substance use service offering earlier short term intervention with a focus on prevention. The intent is to provide timely care that is tailored to meet the unique needs of the patient with the goal of preventing the need for longer term MHSU services or acute care services. Other members involved in this work are the health care team providing the service. This pamphlet describes the intent of the service.

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Carol Stathers
Engagement Leader, Patient and Public Engagement | Okanagan, Interior Region
778.516.3308
cstathers@bcpsqc.ca

From Our Community

Cherie Mercer

Patient Partner, New Aiyansh

Cherie Mercer

I have learned so much about innovation and capacity building by being part of PVN. I signed up to build my leadership skills, however, I experience benefits for myself, my community and Indigenous peoples throughout the province. I understand more about the complexities and opportunities required to improve health care.