Eastern Health Building 80
Pleasantville PO Box 13122
St. John’s, NL A1B 4A4
Tel: (709) 777-5074
Mental Health and Addictions System Navigator:
Barry Hewitt Tel: (709) 752-3916
Toll-Free: 1-877-999-7589 Email: barry.hewitt@easternhealth.ca
Website: http://www.easternhealth.ca/WebInWeb.aspx?d=2&id=2349&p=2106
Mandate:
To promote and prevent mental health and addictions, as well as providing community supports.
Target population:
Youth and adults dealing with mental health and addictions, as well as stakeholders and community organizations.
Highlight of Programs / Services Offered:
Promotion/Prevention Services:
The prevention of alcohol, other drug and gambling problems requires a range of measures directed toward the individual, family, and the larger community, as well as mental health promotion prepares and provides educational and training programs that meet the special needs of various groups.
- Provide the best possible information to those with an interest in mental health and addictions issues.
- Services are available to helping professionals, schools, workplaces and community groups and include information/consultation, awareness workshops, skill development training, peer education and community development/support.
- Public awareness is also promoted through radio/television interviews, newspaper articles and panel discussions.
Adult Outreach Services:
Outreach Services offers mental health and addictions outreach to individuals, families, and groups across the lifespan.
- The Adult Outreach Team consists of social workers, a nurse and nurse practitioner, provides services and supports to people in the community through partnership arrangements with various community based organizations.
- The outreach component involves brief intervention with individuals who are socially disadvantaged, clients living with mental and and/or addictions issues who may present with a variety of health and social needs and are disconnected from appropriate services or supports.
- Service provision includes crisis intervention, assessment, brief counselling, nursing primary health care assessment and treatment, referral, advocacy, and system navigation in order to address a variety of needs.
- Outreach service delivery also involved addictions drop-in group programming and nursing services with include primary health care assessment, treatment, foot care services and general health promotion and protection activities for socially disadvantaged clients who may be living with mental illness and/or addictions.
Youth Outreach Services:
Youth Outreach Workers (YOWs) provide early intervention and outreach services to youth, with the goals of reducing harms associated with substance use, and keeping youth in school.
- Youth Outreach involves rapport building in an attempt to connect youth to community programs, services and supports.
- Youth outreach activities involve health promotion/prevention, education and program/project delivery, as well as: support, referral and advocacy in relation to mental health and addictions concerns.
- The YOWs work in partnership with other stakeholders in the community and act as an extension of the continuum of mental health and addictions services that are provided.