Vancouver ACT Teams (1,2,4,5,and 6)

Referral Information

Vancouver Coastal Health's Central Access and Discharge (CAD) Team managers referrals to the ACT program. Clients referred must be currently receiving community mental health services within VCH. Please connect with your Community Mental Health Team providers to discuss ACT referrals.

If you are a VCH provider looking to refer your client, click here.

About ACT in Vancouver

Welcome to the Vancouver ACT Team Page. On this page, you will find information about ACT teams 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 which are all co-located on the Vancouver General Hospital Campus. (The page for RainCity ACT -also known as ACT 3- located near Main and 11th Ave can be found here.)  On this page, you will find information about the ACT teams, the services you can expect, and a list of the most commonly referred to resources available for clients and families living in Vancouver and supporting by ACT.

Your Vancouver ACT Team

Vancouver ACT teams have the ‘standard’ ACT disciplines on their teams, including an occupational therapist, social worker, concurrent disorders clinician, and psychiatrist. In addition to the roles you would typically find on an ACT team, formally embedded within the Vancouver teams are also the following roles: 

• Peer Support Specialist: an ACT staff member with lived experience of recovery from a mental health or substance use challenge and who works collaboratively to increase awareness of ACT client perspectives and experiences. The Peer Support Specialist provides one-to-one support to clients, focusing on wellness management and recovery strategies. The Peer Support specialists also works collaborative with the team to encourage a culture of respect and recovery that is free of stigma.
   
• Recreational Therapist: an integral part of the ACT team who works with clients to identify interests and develop skills in an effort to empower ones sense of self and to optimize their quality of live.
   
• Primary Care Physician: in addition to the ACT team psychiatrist, Vancouver ACT teams are supported by Primary Care Physicians with a specialization in addiction medicine to better support their clients. The physician provides community outreach to initiate and provide ongoing support for opiate replacement therapy, consults on physical health challenges such as wound care, cardiovascular illness and diabetes, as well as collaborates on psycho-social issues such as Adult Guardianship or housing concerns, to name a few.
   
• Mental Health Liaison Police Officer: one officer supports all 6 teams in Vancouver, where there are approximately 420 clients with complex needs. Their purpose is to support ACT staff and clients within the community setting to ensure safety and, to build relationships that may help change the experience of reaching out to police for assistance.

Client Groups/Programming

Although we support client with integration into existing community services/program, Vancouver ACT teams typically hold a variety of ACT client wellness groups throughout the year. Below is an example of a sample schedule of some of the group programming you might find:

Activities

Occasional camping trips, canoe trips, and bicycle rides are organized during the summer months for those that have graduated or are closer to graduation from the Vancouver ACT program. Below are pictures during one of the last camping trips. 

Services and Resources Available in Vancouver

The following are services available in Vancouver that clients and families may find useful.

For a list of provincially available resources, click here.

Food Security

Greater Vancouver Food Bank

Providing healthy food to those in need in the Greater Vancouver area.
https://foodbank.bc.ca

Quest

Clients can be referred to this grocery program through a social service agency, a community-serving charity or non-profit, a church, social worker, doctor, nurse, teacher, principle or other professional source or 
organization whose mission is to support and lift up individuals facing economic barriers.
https://www.questoutreach.org/ 

Evelyne Saller Centre

The Evelyne Saller Centre provides a variety of services to low income and at risk adults living in the Downtown Eastside. The centre supports the physical, mental, and social well-being of community members to enhance their quality of life.

https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/evelyne-saller-centre-location.aspx

Substance Use Services

Insite - Supervised Consumption Site
Insite is a supervised drug consumption site accessible to street drug users. Insite has injection booths 
where clients inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of nurses and health care staff. 

139 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 1N5
Phone: (604) 687-7483
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=964

Onsite
Detox Facility above Insite
137 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 1N5
Phone: (604) 803-3507
Fax: (604) 681-2217
http://www.vch.ca/Locations-Services/result?res_id=1397

Powell Street Getaway – Supervised Consumption Site

Staff supervise and monitor clients for signs and symptoms of an overdose at five booths, teaching clients 
safer drug use practices, and referring clients to other health care services such as substance use treatment and counselling. Clients can use substances via injection, snorting or swallowing.

528 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 1G5
Phone: (604) 255-7026
http://www.vch.ca/Locations-Services/result?res_id=1390
 

Mobile Needle Exchange

Pickup & Harm Reduction Supplies

Offers rapid pick up of discarded needles in public spaces and offers distribution of harm reduction supplies to individuals.
7 days a week, 20 hours a day, from 7am–3am
Phone: 604-657-6561
needlevan@phs.ca

Access Central 

For Adults 19+ years old living in Vancouver, Richmond, North Shore, and the Sunshine Coast who need help 
to manage withdrawal from alcohol or drug dependency
Phone: Toll-Free 1-866-658-1221

Vancouver Detox (residential)
Harbour Light (residential)
Daytox (Detox day program)
START (community-based home withdrawal program)
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1188

Indigenous Services

Kilala Lelum
Kílala Lelum (Urban Indigenous Health and Healing Cooperative) aims to partner Indigenous Elders with 
physicians and allied health professionals to provide physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual care to the 
community in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
https://kilalalelum.ca/  

Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Society 
The Friendship Centre, a charitable organization provides programs in health, welfare, social services, human rights, culture, education, recreation and equality for all genders of aboriginal people of all age groups.
http://www.vafcs.org/ 

Culture Saves Lives through PHS
 PHS works with Indigenous harm reduction leaders in a movement called Culture Saves Lives to address the needs for cultural and spiritual care, reconnecting or helping people to connect for the first time to traditional, spiritual and cultural practices.

https://www.phs.ca/our-services/culture-saves-lives/

Recreational Programs

Art Studio

Offering free classes and workshops on painting, ceramics, printmaking under a psychosocial rehabilitation model

https://mdabc.net/art-studio/ 
Carnegie Centre
Carnegie Community Centre — often referred to as the living room of the Downtown Eastside — provides 
social, educational, cultural, and recreational activities on-site and nearby at Oppenheimer Park.
https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/carnegie-community-centre.aspx

Vocational Services

EMBERS
EMBERS is a registered community economic development charity located in the downtown East side 
dedicated to helping people finding barriers find work.

https://emberscanada.org/

HAVE Culinary Training Society
HAVE Culinary Training Society is a culinary training school that provides food service job training and work 
opportunities to individuals in Vancouver who experience barriers to employment.

 https://www.have-cafe.ca/

Legal Information

• “Know Your Rights Under the Mental Health Act" https://www.bcmentalhealthrights.ca/rights-materials/pamphlet/ 
• Adult Guardianship Act https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96006_01 

Community Health Centres

Community health centres provide a range of health care services in a single location, including access to public and community health nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, mental health and addiction counsellors, dental clinics for children, speech therapists, nutritionists, youth drop-in health clinics and more.

Downtown Community Health Centre
569 Powell Street
604-255-3151
http://www.vch.ca/Locations-Services/result?res_id=1360

Evergreen Community Health Centre
3425 Crowley Drive
604-872-2511
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1361

Robert and Lily Lee Family Community Health Centre
1669 East Broadway
604-675-3980
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1358

Pacific Spirit Community Health Centre
2110 West 43rd Avenue
604-261-6366
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1336

Pender Community Health Centre
59 West Pender Street
604-669-9181
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1340

Raven Song Community Health Centre
2450 Ontario Street
604-709-6400
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1365

South Community Health Centre
6405 Knight Street
604-321-6151
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1318

Three Bridges Community Health Centre
1292 Hornby Street
604-736-984
http://www.vch.ca/locations-services/result?res_id=1373 

Other Community Services

Kettle Friendship Society

For people living with mental illness, substance use, poverty, and/or homelessness by providing housing, employment, community services and enrichment programs in Vancouver. Also provide financial services.
Kettle Friendship Society | Vancouver Foundation

VPD Pathway to Wellness
Vancouver Police and Health Care Team up to Help People Living with Mental Illness was created with input from Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care, and tells the fictional story of John, as he first encounters police while in a mental health crisis
Pathway to Wellness: Vancouver Police and health care team up to help people living with mental illness - Vancouver Police Department (vpd.ca) 

Resources for those living with HIV/AIDS

Dr. Peter’s Centre
Resources and Day Health Centre for those living with HIV/AIDs.
https://www.drpeter.org/ 

AIDS Vancouver:
For clients with HIV/AIDs. Services include case management, grocery program, financial services, legal services and housing.
https://www.aidsvancouver.org/case-management

Loving Spoonful
A Loving Spoonful is a volunteer-driven, non-partisan Society that provides free, nutritious meals to people living with HIV and co-existing illness in Metro Vancouver and the surrounding areas.
http://www.alovingspoonful.org/

Downloadable Resources 

Vancouver ACT Brochure

An interesting “tid-bit” about one of the Vancouver ACT Team's Peer Support Specialists:

Erin, currently a full time Peer Coordinator Specialist with the Vancouver ACT Teams, is author to the book “When Quietness Came”.

Book Summary:

 “When Quietness Came” is the true story of a young woman studying neuroscience who, in her final undergraduate year, has a psychotic break, attempts suicide and ends up in the hospital. Her struggles to get well and to pursue her PhD are described in this book. Her Story is geared to people from a variety of backgrounds. As a neuroscientist, Erin reaches out to the medical community who need to hear this side of the patient. As someone struggling with schizophrenia, she reaches out to others struggling with this disorder, hoping to draw alongside and offer empathy and hope.