New Roseville to expand community mental health care

The planned Roseville Halfway House will not simply reopen the former facility but will offer a redesigned community-based mental health programme to help people move from institutional care to living on their own.

Health officials say the St Peter facility will provide rehabilitative services outside of a hospital setting. They are considering options like occupational therapy, recreational therapy and psychotherapy.

Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Arthur Phillips said the project represented a complete redesign of what previously operated at Roseville.

“This is not a rebuilding and just a reopening of something that has been closed, but it is a reimagining, a redesign, and a new programme that will be in a new facility,” he told a public consultation at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Monday evening.

“It happens to be at an old location, but it is a complete rethink and redesign.”

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Francine Blackman said the Ministry was seeking to develop a more modern and community-centred approach to mental healthcare, with more emphasis on dignity, autonomy and recovery.

She said the Roseville facility would offer “a safe, structured bridge” to help people with addictions and other challenges recover and reintegrate into the community.

The facility is expected to help people live independently and develop skills, including opportunities for subsistence farming, jobs and self-employment.

“The construction and operationalisation of this facility is therefore not solely an infrastructure project. It represents an investment in people, recovery, inclusion, and human dignity,” Blackman said.

She said Barbados previously had a halfway facility which she believed closed in 2015, and the government now considered it necessary to restore that part of the mental healthcare system.

Phillips said a quarter-way house currently operates on the Psychiatric Hospital compound, but there has not been a functioning halfway house for some time.

He said moving from long-term institutional care to full independence can be hard without some support in between.

“For someone who’s been in that setting for a prolonged period of time, there is benefit in having that transition, and the halfway house provides for that,” he said.

Phillips said treatment, life skills and occupational therapy were already available, but Roseville would provide another step between formal institutional care and independent living.

Mental health professional Dr Joy Sue said rehabilitative services would be a major part of the new model.

“The services for the halfway house would more focus on the rehabilitative type of services,” she said, identifying occupational therapy, recreational therapy and psychotherapy.

Sue said delivering those services in the community rather than an institution was consistent with the direction in which the Ministry wanted mental healthcare to move.

However, she acknowledged that staffing would have to be expanded.

“I don’t think we were able to have those kinds of services in the halfway house, and that is something that we’re gonna have to look at expanding because currently we don’t have the staffing to provide that,” she said.

The Ministry also wants Roseville to connect with the surrounding community, instead of operating in isolation.

Sue said they are considering adding amenities like a basketball court and activities such as raising chickens. These could create job opportunities for residents and help them interact with the local community.

The project will nevertheless have to address both environmental concerns and potential community resistance.

Consultant Leisa Perch said stigma surrounding mental healthcare had been identified among the social risks requiring attention during the development and operation of Roseville.

She acknowledged that direct community engagement had been limited so far because of project timelines, but said this would increase as planning progressed.

During construction, a community liaison officer is expected to help maintain communication between contractors and surrounding residents.

Roseville’s location also brings specific environmental issues to consider.

Perch said its proximity to Six Men’s meant planners had to think about turtle nesting, fishing, a nearby gully and land and marine species.

The existing building is also in a state of “deep dilapidation”, creating the potential for mould and asbestos, which will have to be assessed.

Planners are additionally considering hurricane winds, storm surge, coastal flooding, wastewater management and the effects of other development activity in the area.

The environmental and social assessment remains in draft, with stakeholder feedback expected to help shape the project.

(SM)