Funding for Red Fish mental health and addiction treatment model is to be boosted by millions. Here's why

The province says it plans to invest millions of dollars in a mental health and substance use treatment model that's only been around for a couple of years but that stakeholders say has been proven effective. 

Last week, the NDP government unveiled its budget for 2023, which included a $1 billion investment in mental health and addiction services. 

Part of that includes plans to expand on the treatment model at Red Fish Healing Centre, a 105-bed facility that treats people suffering from some of the most severe mental health and addiction issues in the province. 

What is the treatment model at Red Fish Healing Centre, and what makes it different? 

According to Kathryn Embacher, the executive director responsible for adult mental health and substance use and whose oversight includes the Redfish Healing Centre, the centre's approach is more trauma-informed and has spiritual and medicinal healing areas incorporated into the facility. 

"It recognizes that no two persons' journeys are the same and that each person's needs and strengths are different," the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said in an email to CBC.  

The Red Fish Healing Centre's model also includes virtual care and incorporates physical wellness into treatment. 

Additionally, mental health and substance use disorders are treated together in the same place. 

"There's good evidence that treating both together has much better outcomes than treating only one or the other," Embacher said.

Who are the patients? 

Both voluntary patients and those certified under the Mental Health Act use the Red Fish Healing Centre. 

"That's not something you see in the sort of addiction treatment centres where they're not able to serve a certified client who has a more serious mental illness," Embacher says.

Being certified means patients can be brought in against their will only if a doctor has examined them and they meet four other criteria: they require psychiatric care, they require care to protect themselves and others, their ability to respond to their surroundings is deeply impaired by mental illness, and they can't be admitted voluntarily. 

As of right now, Embacher said there are beds available for people from all regional health authorities at the centre in Coquitlam. 

How long has it been around? 

The Red Fish Healing Centre opened in Coquitlam, B.C., in 2021.  It was considered the first of its kind, as treating both mental health and addiction simultaneously was not possible at other facilities in the province. 

How does the government measure success with this model? 

Embacher says staff at the centre monitor patients throughout their programs and assess how severe their mental illness and addiction are. 

They employ tools such as the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) and the Addiction Severity Index to help them gauge where patients are in their healing journey. 

The Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction says that a preliminary evaluation showed that 95 per cent of Red Fish patients are seeing improved mental health between admission and discharge. 

Patients are also staying in treatment for longer periods of time than at other facilities, the ministry says, which leads to better outcomes. 

When will this expansion happen? 

The timeline for the expansion is unclear. The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said it is in the planning stages with the Provincial Health Services Authority, which will ultimately implement the expansion. 

The B.C. Liberals say they don't believe it's actually going to happen because the province didn't include capital funding for the expansion in its budget. 

"There's absolutely no capital money for them to expand Red Fish anywhere else in the province," B.C. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon said following the budget reveal on Feb. 28. 

"They didn't make the important decision of putting actual dollars in the budget."

But the ministry says the budget does account for those costs.