The Mental Health Initiative in British Columbia introduces a new plan for the development of mental health services

1998. Towards the end of the twentieth century, large initiatives were taken in mental health care towards more inclusive and community based care, resulting in the closing of institutions. After a province-wide consultation which created the 1987 Mental Health Consultation Report: A Draft Plan to Replace Riverview Hospital, the government of British Columbia’ created the Mental Health Initiative (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998).

This Initiative had the purpose of creating a plan to help decentralize institutional care at the Riverview Hospital, towards small community based facilities (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998 ; BC Mental Health, 2013). Close to $53 million was provided in funding for the Initiative, which operated between 1992 and 1995 (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998). In 1994, a report on the successful outcomes of the Initiative was issued by the Auditor General, and in 1998, a plan was recommended for the future direction of healthcare in the province, and the closing of the Riverview Hospital (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998).

The Initiative's 1998 plan was meant to guide the work of health authorities as the mental health system evolved in British Columbia. The plan described accountability and service delivery in transitional phases (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998). The plan can be read in full here.

By 2002, the provincial government announced the Riverview Redevelopment Project that gradually phased out the institutional buildings, and worked towards closing the Riverview Hospital at the end of July 2012. The patients were transferred to new regional facilities. (Riverview Redevelopment Project, n.d.).

-Colette Leung and Erna Kurbegovic

The Mental Health Initiative in British Columbia introduces a new plan for the development of mental health services

1998. Towards the end of the twentieth century, large initiatives were taken in mental health care towards more inclusive and community based care, resulting in the closing of institutions. After a province-wide consultation which created the 1987 Mental Health Consultation Report: A Draft Plan to Replace Riverview Hospital, the government of British Columbia’ created the Mental Health Initiative (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998).

This Initiative had the purpose of creating a plan to help decentralize institutional care at the Riverview Hospital, towards small community based facilities (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998 ; BC Mental Health, 2013). Close to $53 million was provided in funding for the Initiative, which operated between 1992 and 1995 (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998). In 1994, a report on the successful outcomes of the Initiative was issued by the Auditor General, and in 1998, a plan was recommended for the future direction of healthcare in the province, and the closing of the Riverview Hospital (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998).

The Initiative's 1998 plan was meant to guide the work of health authorities as the mental health system evolved in British Columbia. The plan described accountability and service delivery in transitional phases (Revitalizing and Rebalancing, 1998). The plan can be read in full here.

By 2002, the provincial government announced the Riverview Redevelopment Project that gradually phased out the institutional buildings, and worked towards closing the Riverview Hospital at the end of July 2012. The patients were transferred to new regional facilities. (Riverview Redevelopment Project, n.d.).

-Colette Leung and Erna Kurbegovic