Nova Scotia Mental Health and Addictions Program Grant Recipients 2020-21
Abbie J. Lane Psychiatric Care (6th & 7th Floor)
Adult General Psychiatry specializing in Acute Care for patients with mental health disorders requiring assessment, treatment and stabilization.
Art Group
Art Group encourages independence, choice, self-direction and community integration. for both inpatients and outpatients. Read Monique's Story
Change of Scenery
This program offers patients the opportunity to access nature as part of their therapy throughout the recovery process. All of the outdoor experiences are designed to support the recovery and rehabilitation of individuals experiencing mental health issues through the use of safe, supportive, natural environment.
Best Foot Forward
This program provides clients with basic necessities such as winter outerwear, summer clothing, hygiene products, personal care items and items that foster a sense of freedom, community and acknowledgement like birthday cake or coffee shop gift cards. These simple necessities which many of us take for granted have a significant impact on the client’s overall self-confidence, self-worth and independence.
Learning to Live (Inpatient Eating Disorder Unit)
This project will promote community involvement, provide exposure to creative outlets and generate important life skills for our patients in our Eating Disorder Program. Thereby accelerating discharge, promoting recovery and preventing relapse.
Living Leisure, Loving Life
Living Leisure, Loving Life is a community integration program that focuses on providing regular access to leisure activities in the community. Many of these activities will be sustainable upon their discharge and will help contribute to their health and well being. Skill development areas include: using public transportation, knowledge of and participation in community clubhouses and recreational and athletic activities.
Nourishing Needs
This program provides clients with transferable knowledge and skills for meal planning and preparation of inexpensive, nutritious meals while reducing isolation and encouraging the importance of socialization over a shared meal. The program incorporates meals in the community, healthy cooking classes, and the opportunity to cook together in hospital.The Wellness Garden
This program allows clients to socialize in a non-clinical setting, grow new interests, build confidence in meal preparation, and promote discharge readiness. The Wellness Garden also provides clinicians an opportunity to learn more about the patient's psycho-motor and psycho-social living in a more normalized setting.
Tuning into Wellness
This music therapy program first builds self-confidence, hope and vitality in hospital the, builds upon this love for music in community-based programming while encouraging socialization and accountability.
Community Transition Program
The Community Transition Program (CTP) helps adults who have complex mental and physical health and behavioural challenges, and residential/social support needs. The goal is to transition individuals from inappropriate settings to an appropriate level of care within the community.
Live Laugh Leisure
This grant provides individual programming to support socialization and community engagement. This program helps clients practice social skills, and interaction, practice coping skills in unpredictable environments, and develop a sense of community through leisure activities. Above all, it increases the likelihood clients will have a positive transition back into the community.
Move With Your Senses
This grant allows clients to engage in physical activities while focusing on individual sensory needs. It helps facilitate the exploration of leisure activities like bowling, swimming and going to the gym while providing sensory tools such as noise blockers, scented oils or fidget tools to reduce anxiety, agitation and over stimulation.
Connections Services
Connections are recovery-focused programs providing supports and opportunities to adults living with mental illness such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder, and who also experience substantial functional challenges in their day-to-day lives.
Connections Dartmouth
Artworks
ArtWorks enables clients to explore their creativity using a variety of mediums with the support from longstanding volunteer and local artist, Violet Robertson. Artworks aims to provide safe, therapeutic outlets for individual expression, skill development, art techniques, community engagement and giving back to the community. Participants are provided with art supplies, instruction, project ideas and opportunities to explore local art through tours of local galleries and contribution to fundraising initiatives.
Exploring Beyond Our Horizons
This program is aimed at providing opportunities to explore recreation and leisure activities while building skills. Through group and one-on-one work, clients learn the importance of everyday leisure, and how it brings meaning to their lives and impact their path to wellness and recovery.
Friends Among Friends
Friends Among Friends is a community-based group for consumers who have severe and persistent mental illness and provides weekly structure and support with an emphasis placed on client empowerment, choice and sense of belonging.
Music Program
This program will impact our clients is a variety of ways, focusing on a range of health domains. The three main domains that will be focused on, but not limited to, will be social, emotional and environmental health.
New Directions
A peer support group is for individuals aged 19-35 living with mental illness. This group allows young adults to lead with the participation and support from the staff. The aim is to provide relationships that facilitate social inclusion, social awareness, and peer support with the underlying emphasis on recovery and community integration. Activities vary from educational to social and leisure based. Activities are often structured around existing events to continue the creation of mental health awareness and to help youth to integrate and use other services available to them. Youth have been exceptionally supportive and welcoming of each other and have consistently provided a safe, positive, and open environment.
Walking Group
The Walking Group provides an opportunity for clients of Connections Dartmouth to participate in and learn about physical activity and socialization within their community. This program hits all three goals of recreation therapy; leisure education, recreation participation, and functional intervention. Throughout the duration of the group, the facilitator communicates several aspects of leisure education including community resources, events, and activities, ways in which to acquire a membership with the Sportsplex, free or low cost programs in the community, weekend and daytime leisure activity planning, and answers to any questions participants may have.
Connections Sackville
Community Engagement
This grant supports community outings for clients to increase confidence, new friendships and a sense of community while expanding their circle of support through participation in leisure activities, physical activity, and special events.Friends Gathering
This is a group for consumers with a severe and persistent mental illness. The group offers weekly structure and support utilizing the principles of psycho-social rehabilitation. A balance of structured and unstructured activities, with an emphasis on empowerment, choice, and sense of belonging is provided. Funding will provide access to transportation to enable members to experience what others do regularly and easily. This may include bus trips to other communities, museums, local restaurants, recreational facilities, and festivals.
Connections Halifax
Fit'n Fresh at Needham Centre
Fit N’ Fresh is a community-based partnership between HALIFAX Rec, Schizophrenia Society of Nova Scotia, and Connections Halifax which facilitates client participation in group athletics and active play.
Get Set for the Great Outdoors
This program provides access to the tools needed to take part in outdoor activities and day trips. This grant will support the creation of 10 backpacks filled with safety and comfort items, to be loaned to participants. It will provide the opportunity for participants to experience the benefits of immersion in nature, in areas serviced by public transportation to make this a transferrable activity beyond the program.
Sing Together Karaoke
This grant will support the creation of a new music program and encourage participation in a leisure activity that is easily transferrable to community locations. Participants will develop peer relationships through shared interests and leadership skills while improving confidence, leisure repertoire, and technical music skills.
East Coast Forensic Hospital
A hospital and correctional facility serving people from the judicial system who are living with mental illness.
First Aid to Promote Recovery and Independence
This grant will fund Standard First Aid and CPR Training for up to 15 clients which will support resume building, self-confidence and self-efficacy through the development of a productive life skill.Food Hygiene to Promote Recovery
This grant will provide clients with a skill building program to support recovery and reintegration. CUP to 12 clients will receive Food Hygiene training which includes a Food Handling course in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and Environment. Clients will participate in daily on-site food preparation while developing transferable skills for future personal and professional pursuits.
Nova Scotia Hospital
Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment Program
The Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment Program (BPDTP) based at the Nova Scotia Hospital site provides long-term (6 months or more), specialized treatment for adults with severe Borderline Personality Disorder.
Run For Your Life
An expansion of the very successful 10-week learn to run/walk program. This expansion will provide an introduction to physical activity for clients and community members to train to run or walk a 5K race. Funding facilitates client participation by covering the cost of running shoes, socks, supportive undergarments, and race entry. This program offers group runs/walks twice weekly, helps clients set exercise goals and provides information about free/low-cost exercise options in the community to encourage an ongoing fitness regime.
Emerald Hall
Emerald Hall is a unit in the Nova Scotia Hospital that provides care to individuals with a dual diagnosis (an intellectual challenge in combination with mental illness).
Breath of Fresh Air
This program will promote physical activity in a community setting, increase access to the outdoors, opportunities to connect with nature while allowing clients to explore new interests. Activities will include a 2-day camp at Camp Kanada, a pool party, beach trips, nature walks, wildlife park visit, Dartmouth Community pizza oven visits, BBQ’s and picnics.Food, Flavours, and Friends
This program will support the development of Individual Program Plans that incorporate baking groups, community outings, coffee hour and onsite meal groups. Clients will develop basic food handling and cooking skills, learn to prepare meals with items harvested from the on-site garden while developing social skills, meal etiquette and much more.
Mindful Station
The Mindful station will provide a unique experience for adults recovering from a mental health crisis to participate in activities that will help develop skills for reintegration through activities that promote calm, relaxation, and mindfulness. Through sensory experiences that patients can touch, see, hear, smell and feel, they will develop awareness of what sense they prefer to awaken or enlighten.Special Events
This grant provides funding for Emerald Hall’s “Special Events” such as the Family Christmas Party, Family Barbecue, Family Support and Spring Tea, Valentine’s Day Party, Halloween Party and Easter Party. These events assist in normalizing the lives of the patients of Emerald Hall by providing opportunities for many of the patients to gain or practice social skills, make crafts, decorate the unit, visit with family and enjoy food and beverages together as they would at home in the community.
Mount Hope Acute Care
Mount Hope Acute Care at the Nova Scotia Hospital provides specialized treatment to patients living with severe mental illness and addiction.
Creative Expression
This programs allows clients to explore a variety of activities related to creative expression including arts/crafts, drawing, writing, knitting, baking and cooking in an inclusive and welcoming environment. This promotes self-expression and the development of positive coping strategies and self-confidence.
Follow the Leader
This grant will help meet the basic needs of clients promoting the overall health and wellness of clients. This grant funds items like food, clothing, phones, toiletries, gym passes, community recreation program fees, replacement of identification cards or documents, and more. This grant has a direct impact on pride, self-worth, dignity and independence.
FUNctional Fitness
This program, formally known as the "Now You're Cooking" program, provides patients the opportunity to explore cooking and baking using a supported therapy approach and teaches patients the bond between good nutrition and good mental health.
Get Up and Go
The Get Up and Go! project focuses on the recovery of participants from the Mayflower Unit by supporting them in their first steps to returning to their communities. Clients engage in shared experiences with others, learn skills, and are motivated to reestablish connections to leisure. Leisure education allows clients to gain self-confidence and independence, providing opportunities to explore personal leisure attitudes, awareness, values and perceived barriers in order to better understand the decision making processes and one’s lifestyle choices.
Meditative Spaces
This program has been supporting recovery in a non-clinical setting since 2013 by providing unique opportunities through experiential learning and enjoy the outdoors in all four seasons. It allows clients to connect with new and past activities including horse back riding, sea kayaking, gardening, yoga, snow shoeing, camping, music and other wilderness activities.
Simpson Landing
Simpson Landing houses adults (aged 19 and over) who are living with mental illnesses, such as Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder.
Building Bridges
This grant supports leisure activities which enable clients to develop social and communication skills in one-on-one and group settings. Activities take place on site and in the community and include coffee outings, holiday celebrations, BBQ’s and more.
Connecting to Your Community
This program connects clients to their community through recreation and leisure activities to promote a sense of belonging and connection and support their recovery and ongoing wellness.
Finding Your Balance
This program promotes physical activity, creative expression, stress reduction and community involvement to help clients transition back into community. It will allow clients to have access to healthy leisure activities like swimming, going to the gym, yoga, painting, music, and more.
Journey to Recovery
This program takes place out of the hospital setting to encourage clients to take greater control over their daily decisions, which is an important transitional skill to community living. This experience is designed to promote greater self confidence and also fosters independence.
Starting Fresh
This Project provides "a fresh start" when transitioning back to the community and provides essential living needs as well as promotion of good nutrition, health, well-being, and comfort.
Transition Hall
Transition Hall is a 13-bed unit at the Nova Scotia Hospital which serves clients with severe mental health needs and provides long term rehabilitation. Clients work on goals to assist them to transition to independent living or appropriate placement within the community.
Don't Knock It Until You've Tried It
Clients in Transition Hall will learn new skills associated with accessing recreation. Leisure education can promote independence, self-determination decision-making skills and an understanding of potential leisure barriers, problem-solving skills necessary to overcome these barriers and en enhanced understanding of the benefits associated with leisure.
Explore the Outdoors
The focus of this grant is to provide clients with leisure opportunities in outdoor settings to help foster and develop transferable skills upon discharge into the community. Engagement in meaningful leisure such as outdoor recreation that impacts one's mind and body, fosters self-determination and self-actualization through the acquirement of well being and self-identity. Outdoor recreation can also equip individuals with skills that can be used daily and are transferable across a realm of occupations.
Spotlight on Social
Clients will engage in healthy social activities to enable positive social interactions, develop social skills and instil the confidence needed to access their community. This program will foster positive interaction with family, peers and community while reducing social isolation and allowing clients to experience the success necessary to support their transition back into their community.
Wellness & Recovery
This 5-week program helps clients develop coping techniques and build skills related to stress reduction utilizing internal and external resources to instil self-confidence and hope.
West Hants Community Mental Health Clinic
The West Hants Community Mental Health Clinic provides specialized mental health and addictions services to children, youth and adults living with moderate to severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.
Community Connections
Community Connections provides recreational/leisure, educational (personal development & coping strategies), and social opportunities to clients of West Hants Community Mental Health and Addictions. The program connects clients to activities and opportunities available in their community that they may not be aware of, or typically have the means to participate in. This grant also provides support for transportation to appointments, food banks, and recreational and educational activities.