The province is moving forward with plans to replace the aging Waterford Hospital, incorporating the new facility into the Health Sciences Complex.

Yet, some mental health advocates are saying the bio-medical model doesn’t meet the needs of all people living with mental health and addictions issues.

Bailey Reid, the manager of policy and public engagement with the Canadian Mental Health Association, is one of the authors of a recent report on the experiences of 40 people within the mental health and addictions system.

She says the current Waterford Hospital only supports 1.5 to 3 per cent of the population living with mental health and addictions.

Reid says most people get the help they need for mental health and addictions through community-based organizations and she questions how the new facility, while welcomed and overdue, will meet those needs.

She says “the whole idea of moving people out of their communities and away from their families to provide a bio-medical model of care is somewhat problematic.” While she welcomes the new facility, she says that doesn’t mean that operations within the new facility can’t change. She says policies surrounding family-centered care can be re-written.

Reid references a program that’s been in place in Sweden for two decades that matches patients with host families in rural areas, similar to a foster-care model for children.

People with more severe mental illness like schizophrenia or different forms of bi-polar live with families to promote their recovery.