Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health & Addiction
θəqiʔ ɫəwʔənəq leləm’ (the Red Fish Healing Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, or Red Fish Healing Centre) is for clients with complex and concurrent mental health and substance use disorders.
Our program typically lasts between six and nine months. If you’re a client at the Red Fish Healing Centre, our programs allow you an extended period of time to heal and recover. From day one, we will work with you, your mental health team, and your community supports to plan for discharge.
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The Red Fish Healing Centre is on səmiq̓ wəʔelə (the Place of the Great Blue Heron). It is within the unceded territory of kwikwəƛəm, or the Kwikwetlem First Nation.
Who is the Red Fish Healing Centre for?
Our 105-bed facility treats individuals from across the province who live with the most severe concurrent substance use and mental health issues. Clients admitted to the Red Fish Healing Centre have both a mental illness and a substance use disorder. Many clients also have other chronic health problems. Clients may be admitted voluntarily, or involuntarily under BC’s Mental Health Act.
What to expect
When you are first admitted, you will complete a wellness assessment in an intake room. After intake, you go to one of the assessment and stabilization units. These units focus on assessing your strengths and needs, and stabilizing your symptoms. You will have your own bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. Please bring essential personal items with you, such as your favourite shampoo, nicotine products and comfort items.
To keep you safe, when you’re first admitted, you will not have passes to leave your unit. A psychiatrist will grant passes after stabilization. Assessment and stabilization units allow time for you to become familiar with your surroundings, and address your immediate medical and psychiatric concerns.
The Healing Community is where much of our group programming is held. It is also a space for you to hang out, make connections and engage in psychosocial group therapy, music therapy, recreational activities, and Indigenous-specific care.
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In addition to treatment for your substance use and mental health issues, we offer life skills activities, including cooking, music and arts programs. Our outdoor spaces feature gardens, trees and other natural elements for you to enjoy. These therapeutic programs can assist you in your recovery during your stay. Our aim is to help you successfully integrate back into your life and your community.
Recovery will continue after your stay at the Red Fish Healing Centre. We recognize that you may face challenges upon discharge. As you move through your treatment, your team will work with you to create a plan so that you are well supported and connected with your home health authority. This could include educational plans, job skills, and identifying sources for housing.
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Former clients have shared that their treatment and transition back to community has enabled them to reconnect with family and loved ones. This reconnection can help you live a more meaningful and fulfilling life.
Approach to care
At the Red Fish Healing Centre, we promote recovery and healing through an evidence-based model of care (PDF) that prioritizes trauma-informed practice, dignity, and therapeutic spaces and programs. Our model of care is the only one of its kind in North America.
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The model of care is based on our values and care principles and focuses not only on mental wellness and substance-free living, but also on your physical wellness, how you can live a meaningful life, and your eventual transition to care in your home community.
Your care team
We are here to plan your care with you. A multidisciplinary team will be involved in your care. This means many health professionals work in partnership with you, your family, and each other to plan and provide your care. The care team is specially trained to treat concurrent and complex mental health and substance use disorders.
About your care team
Your care team may include:
- Psychiatrist
- Nurse
- Psychologist
- Acupuncturist
- Art therapist
- Dietitian
- Music therapist
- Occupational therapist
- Pharmacist
- Physiotherapist
- Recreation therapist
- Social worker
- Health care worker
- Indigenous care coordinator
- Nursing unit clerk
- Peer support and volunteer coordinator
- Spiritual care practitioner
- Teacher
- Yoga instructor
For families and loved ones
Research shows that people are most likely to stay in recovery when they are supported by a family member or loved one. We encourage you to stay connected to your loved one. We will involve you in their treatment as we are able.
Welcome handbook for patients and families (PDF)
The first few weeks of treatment can be very difficult for your loved one. They are experiencing many withdrawal symptoms, and they may want to leave the program. Our staff are here to support you during this process.
Please call 604-524-7100 with any questions or concerns.
Visiting information
Visiting hours:
- Monday to Friday 3:00-4:30 p.m. & 6:00-8:00 p.m.
- Saturday, Sunday and holidays 1:00-4:30 p.m. & 6:00-8:00 p.m.
If you are unable to visit on-site, we offer tablets with Zoom and FaceTime installed.
Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns and we will do everything we can to support your visit.
- Please check in with reception when you arrive for your planned visit. Our staff will let your loved one’s care team know and give you directions to their unit
- Once at the unit, use the intercom to connect with the care team and let them know you have arrived
- There are designated lockers for you to store your personal belongings
- There are designated family rooms on each of the units for you to visit with your loved one. You and your loved one may also visit in the dining area on the unit or on the Red Fish Centre grounds
- Let the staff know if you wish to bring gifts and other items to your loved one. To protect the safety and wellness of clients, everything brought onto the facility will be searched
- Contact your loved one’s care team if you have any questions or concerns about visiting or what to bring
- Your loved one can spend time with you outside the Red Fish Healing Centre if they have a pass to the community
- You will be asked to become familiar with your loved one’s safety plan ahead of time, such as how to manage triggers
Let staff know if you have any concerns before or during the visit. Planning activities that are supportive of your loved one’s recovery requires open conversations between you, your loved one and the care team.
Resources for Indigenous clients and families
If you are Indigenous, we have dedicated Indigenous care coordinators (ICC) who can support you and your family while you are receiving care at the Red Healing Fish Centre. The coordinator ensures you have access to high quality care that is free of discrimination. They also help empower you to determine your own health care needs.
The coordinator can support you by incorporating Indigenous wellness practices as part of your treatment plan. They can also facilitate access to Indigenous-specific programming that is culturally safe and relevant.
You can request support from the coordinator at any point during your stay. You can ask any member of your health care team to submit a referral.
The Indigenous care coordinator provides:
- Holistic care planning and Indigenous wellness programming
- Individual cultural and spiritual supports, including coordination and access to Sacred Spaces
- Client and family advocacy
- Help in addressing and/or reporting care that is harmful or discriminatory
- Health system navigation, including support for communicating with your health care team
The coordinator can also assist with:
- Discharge planning and resource coordination
- Connecting with First Nations Health Benefits or Non-Insured Health Benefits program for First Nation or Inuk
- Connecting with other sources of support available to all Indigenous patients
- Group facilitation
- Cultural programming
We also have an Indigenous wellness helper who leads Indigenous art, regalia, and sacred object-making groups. The wellness helper also offers Indigenous wellness programming and services, such as:
- Indigenous wellness practices
- Indigenous medicines and bundles
- Healing and cleansing ceremonies such as smudging
- Group programming
- Indigenous art programming
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Referrals
If you are interested in receiving treatment at the Red Fish Healing Centre, contact your health professional about a referral.
If you are a health professional looking to refer a client or patient to the Red Fish Healing Centre, visit our referral page for information and supplemental packages, including enhanced care unit referral packages for clients who are at the highest risk for aggression or other significant problem behaviours.
Contact us
Unit 8, 2745 Lougheed Highway
Coquitlam, BC V3C 4J2
Phone: 604-524-7100