Grand River Hospital provides emergency mental health and addiction assessments 24 hours a day in the emergency department, located at the hospital’s KW Site at 835 King Street West in Kitchener.
If you are experiencing an urgent mental health crisis that does not require the immediate services of the emergency department, you may wish to contact the Crisis Services of Waterloo Region at 519-744-1813.
No referral is necessary to come to the emergency department. A nurse will first see a patient in the emergency department to rule out potential non-psychiatric and/or non-addiction causes of symptoms, as well as to ensure medical stability. Involvement of the emergency crisis service may be suggested by the nurse; a patient may directly request to speak to a crisis staff or an emergency physician may make the recommendation.
Our emergency crisis service is staffed by experienced mental health clinicians who complete a number of steps to help a patient.These include:
- Mental health assessment;
- Addiction screening and risk assessments;
- Recommend treatment strategies;
- Discharge and crisis planning;
- Help with referrals to outpatient programs, support and other community resources that can help the patient; and
- Involving others such as family and significant others, as identified by a patient, for assessment and for support after discharge
The emergency crisis service clinicians also provide further assessment, treatment recommendations and discharge planning for patients who have been admitted but remain in the emergency department, and for individuals who are referred to a clinical decision unit for further assessment.
An on-call psychiatrist is available for consultation,assessment and treatment recommendations, including arranging for admission.