Two leading local agencies whose names are synonymous with mental health are changing their names, but the services clients have come to expect will remain the same.

The agency currently operating under the Canadian Mental Health Association Hastings and Prince Edward's name will rebrand as the Enrichment Centre for Mental Health.  It will still be located at 250 Sidney Street in Belleville.

In a corresponding move, Addictions and Mental Health Services Hastings Prince Edward will transition to the CMHA brand over the next few months.

“Addictions and Mental Health Services Hastings Prince Edward is excited to be joining the CMHA branch network in the months ahead as a next step in the evolution of community-based care in our region,” said AMHS-HPE CEO Garry Laws.

“The already robust programs and services provided under the AMHS brand will stand to benefit from and contribute to CMHA’s well-established goals of providing quality care to the people we support."

He said the need for mental health and addiction services is definitely on the rise.

"This is a good thing because it means more people are reaching out," said Laws.

He added Addictions and Mental Health provides supports to 4,000 to 5,000 local residents annually with a significant waitlist for psychotherapy.

"Tackling that will be part of the new CMHA madidate moving forward," he offered.

AMHS-HPE has offices in Belleville at 15 Victoria Avenue, in Bancroft at 33 Flint Avenue, in Trenton at 27 King Street, in Madoc at 7-52 St. Lawrence Street East and in Picton at 35 Bridge Street.  The back offices are currently at 250 Sidney Street and eventually the new CHMA will be located there as well.

“There is no impact to client services, it is strictly a name change,” added Barinder Gill, Associate Director of Business at AMHS-HPE.  “The intensive clinical services that have to do with addictions and mental health the current CMHA-HPE isn’t equipped to do. 

"This transition also means that we are aligning ourselves with other CMHA branches in the province of Ontario.”

The two agencies will continue to work together and foster their already strong ties to ensure the best possible mental health and addictions care for everyone in Hastings and Prince Edward counties.

The former head of CMHA-HPE -- now the new executive director Enrichment Centre for Mental Health -- Sandie Sidsworth, called this "an evolution of what needs to happen to ensure the right services meet the needs of clients."

She noted the agency currently receives calls daily for acute crisis care, which is not what the agency does.

“Many get extremely frustrated when we can’t go downtown immediately and respond to a crisis with a business owner or we can’t support someone with an ACT team that we have to make these referrals out,” she said in an interview ahead of the official announcement.

“We’re thrilled with the rebranding. It takes the weight of expectation of what the CMHA brand always had because we have so many services that aren’t under the same umbrella as other CMHAs across the province.

“All the services that we are doing now become our identity."

The mental health centre is maintaining its community counselling, suicide bereavement and trauma program, transitional housing, supported employment program and skilled advanced Ontario program.

Sidsworth said the Enrichment Centre for Mental Health brand reflects how service and supports are about choice and recovery, choice to build resilience and renewing someone’s connection to building capacity.

“It sounds like what we want it to be,” she continued.  “We want it to be warm, welcoming and that support for people to move fully into wellness.”

CMHA Ontario CEO Camille Quenneville thanked the outgoing CMHA Hastings and Prince Edward group for its many years of dedicated support of the communities it serves.

"We look forward to welcoming the current Addictions and Mental Health Services team into our CMHA branch network in short order,” she stated. “We’ve been supportive of both agencies through this transition process and agree that these moves will prove beneficial for the people of Hastings and Prince Edward counties in the long term.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis and need of addictions and mental health supports, contact (613) 969-7400 ext: 2753