This was forwarded to me by a group of patients who object to the
Redevelopment Plan at Queen and Ossington Proposed by the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health. Lilith
================================================================
>Please feel free to forward widely and to post
>
> September 19, 2003 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
> CLIENTS' OBJECT TO MEGA-INSTITUTION
> Pedestrian Safety An Accident Waiting to Happen
>
>This week Toronto City Council will consider the plans of the Centre for
>Addiction and Mental Health to close 3 of its sites in order to
>construct a massive new institution at Queen W. and Ossington. The
>Donwood, Addiction Research Foundation and Clarke Institute were
>independent facilities until they and Queen Street Mental Health Centre
>were merged under Health Services Restructuring. Now what became one
>administration will become one massive conglomerate of addiction and
>mental health services, with a population the size of a small town.
>
>Clients call it unsafe, unhealthy and undesirable. The Empowerment
>Council, the voice of clients at CAMH, consulted people who attend the
>different facilities of CAMH.
>
>Clients of the Clarke and ARF sites of CAMH stated that they can not
>afford the time and money to get all the way to Queen and Ossington on a
>regular basis, which is distant from the downtown core and the subway
>line. People on methadone, for example, often require daily treatment.
>"Are we all supposed to move there?" asks Megan Bird, ARF client and EC
>Board member. Many can not afford the TTC. Others dread the stress this
>less accessible location will create in trying to juggle their
>appointments with requirements of work and family.
>
>Clients of the Donwood object most vigorously to the loss of the
>qualities of a place that has helped heal them. "This place saved my
>life" says Don Forsythe, Donwood client and Co-Chair of the EC. "Being
>surrounded by trees and nature, at a distance from bars and drug
>dealers, with privacy and the comradery of a small place - these are all
>essential ingredients to our healing. We are taught that to avoid using
>we have to be aware of environments that can trigger us, and that's what
>we are doing. Moving to Queen and Ossington is bad for us." Many fear
>the closer connection to CAMH means psychiatric drug use will be
>promoted over other forms of healing and that peerful relationships
>with staff, and the enormous pool of volunteers dedicated to the
>Donwood, may be lost.
>
>Clients of Queen Street do want and need a better facility. Many of the
>plans for redevelopment will be a positive change, though there is some
>concern about the addition of so many strangers (as strangers are often
>unkind to people at Queen St).
>
>Finally these plans as they currently stand are dangerous. "Traffic
>statistics show that the number of accidents involving personal injury
>at the intersection of Queen W. and Ossington is double that of a
>comparable intersection (Pape and Gerrard) although there is half the
>pedestrian traffic" states Ali Lennox, EC Outreach Worker. Adding MORE
>streets through a place where people are often heavily medicated and
>confused is a recipe for disaster. "Will the City of Toronto approve a
>plan that puts vulnerable people in danger?"
>
>-30-
>For more info re traffic safety contact Ali Lennox at (416) 535-8501
>ext. 1667
>For info on client perspective: Don Forsythe at (416) 535-8501 ext. 7020
>
>Or Jennifer Chambers Empowerment Council Coordinator at 535 – 8501 ext.
>4022
>
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