BC Mental Health & Addiction Services
BC Mental Health and Addiction Services (BCMHAS) provides a diverse range of specialized, “one-of-a-kind” tertiary-level mental health services to people across the province.
Recognizing that people with mental health challenges may also have co-ocurring issues with substance misuse, the assessment and treatment of addictions is an integral part of our programs, which comprise:
- Forensic Psychiatric Services: Located at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Port Coquitlam near Vancouver, plus six regional clinics across BC, FPS provides court-related psychiatric assessment, treatment and community case management for adults with mental illness who are in conflict with the law.
- Child and Youth Mental Health Services: Located at BC Children’s Hospital (BCCH) in Vancouver, these inpatient and outpatient programs provide a variety of specialized psychiatric assessment and treatment services for children, youth and their families from all regions of BC.
- Provincial Specialized Eating Disorders Program provides inpatient and outpatient assessment and treatment for BC youth and adults living with an eating disorder, located at BC Children's Hospital (for children and adolescents) and St. Paul’s Hospital, Providence Health Care, Vancouver (for adults).
In addition to providing direct services, BCMHAS takes a provincial leadership role, working with an extensive network of community partners as a support and resource to service providers throughout BC. As well, the agency contributes significantly to research and knowledge exchange in the field of mental health.