Sts’ailes Mental Wellness Clinic: Description of the First 15 Months of a Service Development Journey on a St’olo First Nation in British Columbia, Canada

Benning TB, Hamilton M, Isomur

Abstract

The Sts’ailes community is a First Nation close to Chilliwack in British Columbia, Canada where a mental wellness clinic was launched in January 2015. Presented here, in addition to description of the development and structure of the clinic are the sources of referral, demographics, diagnoses and other characteristics of all patients seen over a 15 month period (January 2015 to April 2016). By way of context, the paper begins with an overview of the cultural and historical background of Sts’ailes. It then describes the health services that were in existence at Sts’ailes prior to the mental wellness clinic as well as the values that were held to be important for the mental wellness clinic to embody. Emphasized in this paper too is the fact that a significant time period of consultation and relation-building as well as organizational commitment between First Nations representatives as well as representatives of the local health authority preceded the inception of the clinic.