Community grant to support mental health care at CKHA

CHATHAM-KENT – Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Foundation (CKHAF) was recently awarded a $10,000 grant through the Chatham Kent Community Foundation (CKCF) to support mental health care at Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA).

The grant will help fund the future revitalization of CKHA’s Inpatient Mental Health Unit.

Mental health illness has become prevalent in Chatham-Kent and countless other communities over the past few years. It has been further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions and mandates.

CKHA has recognized a steep upward trend in acuity of mental health patients, highlighted by an increase in registered high-risk events. Cases are becoming more complex, and CKHA has identified mental health care as a significant need for the Chatham-Kent community.

This plan features the development of therapeutic spaces where outside stimulus is eliminated. The new rooms will focus on a recovery-based model of care, incorporating empowerment, hope and meaning in life, while building on the current patient-centred approach already instituted at CKHA.

Currently, the Inpatient Mental Health Unit treats over 500 patients annually.