Veiner Centre, Palliser PCN team to focus on mental health for 50-plus with new behavioural health consultant

By Medicine Hat News on June 1, 2023.

Medicine Hat’s Veiner Centre and Palliser Primary Care Network are working together to boost mental health supports for individuals aged 50-plus in the community through introduction of a new full-time behavioural health consultant position.

Operating out of the Veiner and Strathcona centres, the BHC will assist in supporting seniors’ mental health and overall well-being by connecting with seniors in need of assistance, identifying local services most apt to meet their needs and facilitating connections with those services.

Funding for the position will be provided by Palliser for a term of one-year. Palliser executive director Dr. Treena Klassen hopes the position will address “identified gaps in service” within the community.

Larry Mathieson, president and CEO of Unison for Generations 50-plus, Veiner Centre’s parent corporation, says he and his staff are grateful for the funding, which they feel “will provide much-needed mental health supports in southern Alberta for older adults.”