Over a century of care...Breakthrough 2005

Breakthrough

The Lakeshore Outpatient and Community Clinic

By Gena Smith, Volunteer, Public Affairs

I pull up to the medical building at 3170 Lakeshore Avenue West. One hundred years ago I might have been standing in the middle of a chicken coop!

The Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital, founded in the 1890s, was based on the concept of 'moral treatment.' Dr. Joseph Workman, the Medical Superintendent at the time, was interested in new European ideas which encouraged clients (or 'inmates' as they were called back then) to be healthy and productive rather than languishing in the slum-like conditions of the asylum. This holistic approach to psychiatry was the beginning of a long evolution towards more humane care.

The Lakeshore site was a full 60 acres of fertile farmland on the banks of Lake Ontario. Clients could breathe the fresh air and exercise their bodies, all the while developing a sense of themselves as useful human beings. They ate wholesome food and read international newspapers at the well-stocked library. Men learned carpentry and tilled the soil while women washed clothes and sewed quilts.

The farm was almost completely self-sufficient, with its own food supply, blacksmith shop, pumping station, fire brigade, cemetery and supply of natural gas. In addition to being more humane, the treatment had the added benefit of being more cost-effective.

Clearly this is no ordinary place. Not only is it historically significant, the services provided by the Lakeshore Outpatient and Community Clinic (LSOP) are vital for the 189 clients it serves today, primarily adults with schizophrenia.

A social worker, nurses, occupational therapists, and a recreational therapist staff the program. A caseworker is also available through a joint venture with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) and a music therapist visits weekly. The focus of the clinic is psychosocial. All of the staff offer supportive psychotherapy. They help with everyday activities from how to budget and shop for groceries to how to send an e-mail on the computer. There are drop-in groups where clients come to chat and listen to music, enjoy a game of Chinese checkers or relax with a video on Friday afternoons.

Outpatient care is very valuable because it enables clients with severe mental health problems to be treated in a 'normal' clinic setting. For residents who live in the area, it means they can receive care close to home.

Originally part of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital, the Outpatient Clinic was the first of its kind in Ontario. It was amalgamated with the Queen Street Mental Health Centre in 1979. When the Lakeshore hospital closed its doors for good in 1979, the community of southern Etobicoke insisted that the clinic continue.

However, finding a home proved difficult. Space was leased from the new owners of the property: Humber College. In 1982 a planned move to a vacant school was cancelled because of community protests. Christmas Eve in 1999 brought the "Great Flood" caused by a construction accident. The staff and clients were relocated to the Queen Street site. In late 2001, they finally found their current home at 3170 Lakeshore Boulevard West.

The rolling fields have been supplanted by sidewalks and streetcars, but Dr. Workman's vision of humane treatment is alive and well at the LSOP. Clients are sending e-mail instead of milking cows and doing talk therapy instead of building a barn. They are learning a different kind of self-sufficiency.

The Lakeshore Outpatient and Community Clinic is part of the Schizophrenia and Continuing Care Program.