VIHA Outreach Services in Downtown Victoria

VICTORIA - The following fact sheet was prepared to outline the various outreach services VIHA provides in downtown Victoria.

• The Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) delivers a full spectrum of services and programs to meet the varying needs of individuals living with mental health and addictions issues and/or who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Victoria’s downtown core.
  
  
• Since the Victoria Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness report was released in the fall of 2007, VIHA has increased spending on mental health and addiction services in Victoria by over $6 million annually. 
  
  
• VIHA also works actively with other service providers in downtown Victoria, including the Downtown Service Providers Committee, Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, and the Homelessness Intervention Project.
  
  
• Services include:

1. Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Teams
   
   ~ Including the Victoria Integrated Community Outreach Team (VICOT), a total of four high intensity outreach teams operate in Victoria.
   
   ~ACT/VICOT teams provide access to services in a community setting for clients suffering from mental illness or addictions.
   
   ~ With a small caseload, ACT teams engage people who have significant mental illnesses and/or addictions, who often do not have access to permanent housing and who have had little or no involvement with the mental health system.
   
   ~ Team members include VIHA psychiatrist, team leader, GP, nurse practitioners, professional case managers, support workers and program assistants. There are also team members from the Ministry of Housing and Social Development (outreach worker), Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General (probation officer) and the Victoria Police Department.
   
   ~ Since inception, the ACT teams have provided services to over 200 people – the majority of whom were homeless. It is anticipated this will expand to 300 people over the next two years.
   
2. New and Expanded Addictions Services:
   
   ~ Ten new supportive recovery beds, seven new stabilization beds and 14 new detox beds have opened in Victoria, bringing the total stabilization and detox beds in the city to 38.
   
   ~ The Sobering and Assessment Centre provides 21 beds.
   
   ~ A new Addictions Outpatient Support group focused on supporting homeless and street entrenched individuals who are at the early stages of recovery.
    
3. Case Management:
   
   ~ VIHA provides a host of case management and support services that provide clinical care, food, housing and basic support services for over 1000 other people with serious and persistent mental illness and addictions, many of whom were once homeless.
   
4. Housing:
   
   ~ VIHA provides approximately 800 units of supported housing to people with serious and persistent mental illnesses and addictions. Many of these units are specifically earmarked for the homeless population.
   
   ~ VIHA provides $600,000 in annual operating funding to provide health support services to the 45 housing units at Our Place.
   
   ~ VIHA provides over $400,000 worth of rental subsidies to people with mental illness and/or addictions in Victoria.
    
5. Street Nurse Outreach Program
   
   ~ VIHA funds 2.6 full time equivalent street nurses to provide harm reduction based services targeted to the high-risk inner city population, including those who use illicit drugs, sex trade workers and street youth.
   
   ~ The mandate of the program is the prevention of HIV and Hepatitis C. Services include counselling, education, testing, and immunization, wound management and facilitated referrals to a wide range of health-related services.
   
6. VIHA Contracted Services for HIV and Hepatitis C
   
   ~  VIHA funds four Victoria-based agencies that provide comprehensive needle exchange services and targeted prevention and support to those most at risk for HIV and/or or Hepatitis C, and for those already infected.
   
7. Services for Youth:
   
   ~ VIHA provides $140,000 in annual operating funds to the Salvation Army’s Beacon of Hope treatment facility, which provides residential stabilization services for males aged 13-18.
   
   ~ VIHA provides over $1 million annually in directly delivered and contracted programs and services that deliver detox, shelter, life skills, counselling, residential, outreach, medical and prevention and early intervention services for youth and their families.

- 30 -

Media Contact:
Shannon Marshall
Vancouver Island Health Authority
250-370-8270