Staff orientation and training for Carlile Youth Concurrent Disorder Centre starts soon

With the unit’s six-week orientation and training about to get underway, the Carlile Youth Concurrent Disorders Centre has a unique opportunity to bring together members of the team to not only engage in training for this specialized youth concurrent disorders centre, but to also combine the broad range of expertise to develop the program’s clinical care model and operations.

Being part of developing how the centre will function is one of the reason’s Mark Choi wanted to work on the specialized inpatient 10-bed unit for youth 13-18 living within the health authority.

Not only is Mark fulfilling his desire to make a difference in a young person’s life, he values the opportunity for professional growth and team building.

Team input

“Having input into the day-to-day operations of the program, such as topics to address with youth or daily structure of the program, is very exciting,” says Mark, who is trained as a concurrent disorders clinician and has spent the bulk of his career in youth drug and alcohol prevention.

“I feel like I could constantly grow clinically while being given the autonomy to ‘carve out’ my own niche within this field.”

In fact, Mark’s first VCH position was as a school-based alcohol and drug prevention clinician, which combined his passion for educating youth and parents and teachers.

Mark’s work with identified at-risk youth as well as the team of skilled clinicians and psychiatrists increased his desire to further his clinical skills and obtain his Masters of Social Work, which led to working as a concurrent disordeAll Postsrs clinician for VCH.

Douglas College partnership

Mark and the other members of the development team will explore not only existing units that serve a similar population and best practices, but also working in partnership with Douglas College on developing a certificate program specific to Youth Concurrent Disorders.

This program will be part of the orientation and after the conclusion of the orientation, will also be available as part of an online course for the public to register for.

Certificate program includes: 

• best practice substance use and intervention strategies in adolescents, including harm reduction, trauma-informed care, and recovery model and withdrawal management
• screening and assessment of concurrent disorders, clinician attitudes, and best practices in treatment and support for those experiencing concurrent disorders
• relationship between concurrent mental health and substance use,
• impact of concurrent disorders on families and health care providers, and benefits of an integrated approach
• effective therapeutic alliance and interventions for the “emerging adult”
• housing and homelessness
• vicarious trauma
• interpersonal and group therapy

‘Exceptional space’

For Mark, an added bonus to working at the Carlile Centre is the unit itself.

“Not only am I excited about the chance to work in a new regional program, the physical space of the unit looks exceptional,” he says. “Working on an Inpatient Unit is new for me but I’m looking forward to the challenge and working with an interdisciplinary team to help a vulnerable young person reframe their future.”

The start date for orientation is Feb. 14. The Carlile Centre continues to actively recruit for nursing positions. Contact Hannah.Huynh@vch.ca for more information.