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The La Chasse Adult Mental Health Community Services was given a grand opening this morning, following a £1m refurbishment.
Health Minister Richard Renouf cut the ribbon to mark the occasion, with Associate Medical Director and Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Miguel Garcia-Alcaraz in attendance.
The facility, which has been operating Adult Mental Health Services since 2015, has been given a complete overhaul, repainting the walls, installing new furniture and rescuing the building from its previously “dilapidated” state.
In a speech before he cut the ribbon, the Minister said: “Welcome to the official opening of La Chasse – this previously operated as the base for the Adult Community Mental Health Team after colleagues relocated here from the outpatient department of the General Hospital in June 2015.
“However if you’d seen the previous building and I had seen it, it was dilapidated and not entirely fit for purpose at all. We really needed to bring this building up to standard, and it’s fair to say that this has been undertaken over the past 12 and 18 months, and it represents a wonderful makeover and so much more for those who need to use this facility."
Pictured: An unused basement shows the dramatic change that the painting has provided to the facility overall.
He continued: “I want to thank the team from Infrastructure, Housing and Environment, who have carried out this work and provided a top quality office and centre here. I am delighted to be opening this new facility, which completes the refurbishment of this building for the island that once again is going to house the community mental health team.
“Many of the team are standing around me today – it was re-established in June this year during covid to reach people struggling as is their needs and they need help. And they’re part of the wider adult mental health service taking a whole systems approach with adults up to 64 years of age who are experiencing a range of mental health problems within the community, which cannot be managed within the primary care setting.
“So you’ll see it’s an extremely important and valuable service offering multi-disciplinary working with a whole range of healthcare professionals: which include mental health nurses occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists. And I’m tremendously proud and thank them for the work they do in our community for people who require mental health assessment, treatment and care for their needs.
"They now have this place, which islanders with mental health needs can feel welcomed in and where staff I hope can feel proud to call this building their place of work.”
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