Since the Vancouver All-Staff Forum last week, we’ve received more questions and some very thoughtful and heartfelt comments about what a great workplace means to you. If you haven’t had an opportunity to share your feedback about the forum, there’s still time. Our brief and confidential survey will remain open through February 14.

This week Mary Ackenhusen continues the conversation in her blog “We’re not in Kansas anymore”. We encourage you to read it and add your thoughts and comments, too.

Today we’re pleased to answer more of your questions and, as always, we thank you for your patience. For past Q & As, refer to our January 23 article and previously published submissions to VCH News-Vancouver.

If you have a question you’d like to ask, email us.

Today’s answered questions

Q. With all the emphasis on creating ACT teams to respond to people who never received adequate mental health assistance in the first place, what is VCH doing to prevent this situation from repeating again? Please comment on thoughts that are being discussed specific to early intervention and/or prevention programs/ideas.

Very often, past and present VCH clients who are experiencing troubling mental health (and substance misuse) issues have loving parents and family members that remain actively involved in caring for them. Parents and family members continue to remain an “untapped” and neglected resource that could significantly advance the recovery of VCH clients.

How are parents and supportive family members being CONSULTED and INCLUDED in the mental health interventions proposed through the new ACT teams?

A. Child & Youth Mental Health has a number of programs that target early intervention. Over the last seven years, work has been done to develop a robust EPI (Early Psychosis Intervention) program, and numerous resources (FTEs and physician time) have been put in place to allow for this program’s expansion. As a result, EPI has been able to expand its mandate to serve all clients with a first episode of psychosis in Vancouver/Richmond over the last four years. EPI is identified as an ongoing priority within our Mental Health & Addictions (MH&A) system, and plans are to continue to support and grow the great work that is being done there.

Additionally, work has begun to identify gaps for young people transitioning out of Child & Youth Mental Health into the adult system. Our goal here is to ease the transition into adult care and find strategies early on for the client that will help sustain their functioning in the adult MH&A system in order to prevent long-term social/vocational/educational disruption. If we can succeed at doing this, we can hopefully prevent a client’s future need to draw on systemic supports further down the road

As for the issue of ACT and family involvement…family involvement is a cornerstone of ACT treatment and forms part of our standards of practice. As best we can, we work toward the active inclusion of family members in service planning and create opportunities wherever possible for family members to provide feedback or suggestions about their loved one’s treatment. Throughout a client’s contact with ACT, team members strive to bring the client and family together.

Services provided regularly under this category to clients’ families and other major supports, with client agreement or consent, include:

1. Individualized psycho-education about the client’s illness and the role of the family and other significant people in the therapeutic process.
2. Intervention to restore contact, resolve conflict, and maintain relationships with family and or other significant people.
3. Ongoing communication and collaboration, face-to-face and by telephone, between the ACT team and the family.
4. Introduction and referral to family self-help programs and advocacy organizations that promote recovery.
5. Assistance to clients with children (including individual supportive counselling, parenting training, and service coordination), including but not limited to services to:

• help clients throughout pregnancy and the birth of a child
• help clients fulfill parenting responsibilities and coordinate services for the child/children
• help clients restore relationships with children who are not in the client’s custody.

Q.  Not sure if this is the best or most effective route to bring up the subject, but maybe you can redirect me if needed? I was wondering if the hospital would be able to offer a multi-language course with focus on hospital based/medical terminology and language. Our patient population is extremely diverse, and there are often times where a language barrier inhibits the ability to give optimal patient care. Finding a staff member or family member to translate isn’t always possible or feasible.

I am able to translate for the most part for patients that are Japanese speaking, yet I find for staff like me that are not fluent in the language I get stuck when it comes to asking questions or communicating regarding medical care. I am not alone in this endeavor, as I’ve asked staff to translate medically based questions and we often stumble on how to phrase things. Any feedback on this topic would be much appreciated.

A. Thank you for thinking about the needs of our patients. Patient diversity is one of the many pleasures and challenges of health care in B.C. Although we appreciate your interest in assisting non-English-speaking patients and families, we ask all staff to rely on the Provincial Language Service instead.

The Provincial Language Service (PLS) offers interpreting services in more than 150 languages. Qualified specialists specifically trained to interpret in the health care field are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and these interpreters must adhere to rigorous quality assurance measures and to national professional standards.

Interpreters may be booked in advance for in-person service, or you can call PLS at any time for service by phone. Visit the Provincial Language Service website to booking an appointment and learn more. We hope you find this information useful and encourage you to use it.