Forensic Psychiatric Hospital
| Forensic Psychiatric Hospital | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1903 |
| Opened | 1904/1997 |
| Current Status | Active |
| Building Style | Cottage Plan |
| Location | Coquitlam, BC |
| Alternate Names |
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History
The history of mental-health treatment in the Colony Farm area begins in the early 1900s, when the area was used to grow food for patients at the Provincial Hospital for the Insane (Woodlands Institution) in New Westminster, B.C. Around the same time, work began on a new mental health facility, Riverview Hospital, on the slopes north of Colony Farm. Patients worked the farmlands as part of their treatment, eventually supplying produce and meat for Riverview. “The farm was considered the province’s showpiece and people came worldwide to see the farm, cattle and prize-winning Clydesdale horses,” area historian Anna Tremere wrote in a chronicle of Colony Farm. In time, residences for the mentally ill, including returning war veterans with mental-health issues, went up on-site. Farming operations were ended in 1983.
Forensic Psychiatric Hospital is a secure, 190-bed facility that treats and rehabilitates individuals who have come in conflict with the law and are deemed unfit to stand trial or not criminally responsible due to mental illness (NCRMD). The goal is to restore fitness to attend court proceedings and/or reintegrate patients gradually and safely into the community. It also serves individuals transferred temporarily from correctional facilities to be assessed or receive treatment for a mental illness under the Mental Health Act. The facility consists of 9 clinical units (5 secure, 3 closed and 1 open unit).
