CAMH Connexions Special Edition September 2006
CAMH Connexions
CAMH: Transforming Care Through Redevelopment
How can buildings affect the recovery of a person dealing with mental health or addiction issues? The redevelopment of CAMH’s
Queen Street site will replace an institution with a new mixed-use urban village that will integrate client care into the
fabric of a revitalized community. Our new state-of-the-art facilities and healing environment will allow us to introduce
an integrated model of care that will improve treatment and aid recovery.
CAMH is pleased to announce that it is beginning the first phase of the multi-year, multi-phased redevelopment of its Queen
Street site on October 5, 2006.Work will begin on three Alternate Milieu (AM) buildings for the care and recovery of clients
in a more home-like setting, and a related administrative and ambulatory patient care building. These four new buildings are
scheduled to house both CAMH’s Addictions and Mood and Anxiety Programs beginning in December 2007.
These first steps on the journey to a new CAMH will prove a valuable resource in health care for our community, as well as
better integrate our site into our neighbourhood and make it more welcoming for all concerned.
Janine Robb, Administrative Director of the Mood and Anxiety and Women’s programs, says, “We view recovery as more than merely
the cessation or reduction of symptoms but rather the development of healthy living, coping and problem-solving strategies.
Recovery occurs when people with mental illnesses or addictions discover or rediscover strengths and abilities for pursuing
personal goals, and develop a sense of identity that allows them to grow beyond their illness.”
CAMH’s commitment to developing healthy living extends beyond our site into our community, and as such, our redevelopment
vision is to:
Create a hub for collaboration and interaction
The Queen Street site will be the centre of the new CAMH, integrating client care, research, health promotion, prevention,
and education. The hub – a people-centred place that supports CAMH’s philosophy of client-centred care – will become the heart
of an urban village. Evidence shows that people with mental illnesses and addiction respond best to treatment in “normalized”
home-like and familiar environments.
Dr. Paul Garfinkel, President and CEO of CAMH, believes that the new site will “support client dignity, recovery and transition
back into the community, while integrating the best in clinical care, research, teaching, health promotion and policy at one
site.”
Redefine the site’s image and remove the stigma
The site will be an urban village composed of facilities, sidewalks, new shops and green spaces that physically integrate
it with the surrounding neighbourhood by extending existing streets to create new city blocks. This will create a safe, comfortable
and welcoming setting for client care in which the institutional stigma long associated with the property is eliminated.
CAMH Executive Vice President of Programs and Chief of Nursing Practice and Professional Services Judith Tompkins says, “When
we talk about creating an urban village on the CAMH site, we’re talking about trying to establish an even greater fit with
the community – a flow between hospital and community, in a way that says to clients, ‘Yes, you may have a mental illness
or an addiction, but that, too, can be part of life, like a physical illness. It shouldn’t mean that you suddenly are cut
off or set apart from the community.’”
Make the site green and inviting to the public
The existing landscape is a significant resource that will play an important role in creating a high-quality, client-centred
environment within a shared community setting. The landscape will have many functions, from providing healing spaces for clients,
to making the site inviting to the surrounding community to use. The goal is to create a truly healthy and healing environment
that is much more than a hospital campus.
According to Janine Robb, “Rather than being illness-oriented and focussing only on treatment and the medical part, we’re
emphasizing a recovery base. It’s a complete cultural shift in care.”
After many years of planning, we’re set to change and grow during Phase 1a of redevelopment. We’re improving care and CAMH
is delighted to share the benefits of our transformation with the community.
Centre for Addiction
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