Psychiatrist, Mental Health Emergency Services

Come work as a Psychiatrist with Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH)!

The Mental Health Emergency Service s(MHES or “Car 87/Car 88”) provides intervention to individuals in the city of Vancouver for mental health crisis or emergency situations. Car 87/88 provides immediate referrals to community based and/or emergency mental health services as deemed necessary. The program is a partnership between the Vancouver Police Department and the VCH Access and Assessment Centre's Crisis Response Team. Car 87/88 teams a Vancouver Police constable with a registered nurse or a registered psychiatric nurse to provide on-site assessments and intervention for people living with mental illness. The nurse and the police officer work as a team in assessing, managing, and deciding about the most appropriate action, which may include referrals for community-based mental health follow-up or emergency intervention. Utilizing the least intrusive resolution response for each situation, the program objective is to reduce the need for patrol response and reduce unnecessary admissions to hospitals, while connecting individuals in crisis to appropriate mental health services through community referrals.

The psychiatrist will work with the Mental Health Emergency Services (Car 87/88) providing patient focused care for individuals experiencing mental health crises and their families, and will report to the Head and Medical Director, Department of Psychiatry, Vancouver Acute through the Medical Manager of the Access & Assessment Centre.

The Access and Assessment Centre (AAC) provides an accessible, integrated, interdisciplinary, and coordinated continuum of care as a single point of service access for adults in Vancouver. The health care providers who work here conduct comprehensive assessments utilizing non-urgent, urgent, and emergency interventions to provide services and foster stability in the community for clients. The psychiatrists working within the AAC have diverse backgrounds with interests including that of medical education, addictions, forensics, and psychoanalysis.

The Adult Short term Assessment and Treatment is a part of MHSU Outpatient Services and provides timely MH services to support people to remain in community and prevent admission for psychiatric care. The team provides short-term clinical support while working collaboratively with the most responsible care provider.

Clinical services to the MHES program will be first priority; however, urgent/emergent assessments in the AAC and as needed support for the ASTAT will also be an expectation. Excellence in clinical care will be offered based on the best available evidence with treatment tailored to each person’s individual needs.

As a Psychiatrist with Vancouver Coastal Health, you will:

• Evaluate, diagnose and provide state-of-the-art, specialized inpatient treatment for patients of ages 17 and up suffering from a spectrum of serious psychiatric disorders.
• Provide psychiatric support to the Mental Health Emergency Service (Car 87/88).
• Work within the Access & Assessment Centre providing urgent/emergent consultation and as needed support to the Adult Short-Term Assessment & Treatment program (ASTAT).
• Enhance Quality & Safety, education, and research initiatives for these respective programs.
• Work in collaboration with other physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, allied health professionals, peer-support workers, patients and their families to create the best possible environment for mental health service delivery, as well as for the health care providers who work within these teams.
• Serve as a resource in dealing with mental health and addiction issues and symptom management with a strong knowledge base in psychopharmacology, including Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT), and psychotherapy.
• Be involved in innovative treatment interventions and participate in the training and education of medical students, residents and other health professionals.
• Actively participate in academic activities and clinical care.
• Participate in on-call.

Education, Licensing, & Experience:

• A Medical Degree and eligibility for licensure with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia
• 10+ years of clinical experience
• Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) – Mandatory
• Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada (FRCPC) – Mandatory
• Specialist qualifications in Psychiatry from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
• Eligibility for a clinical faculty appointment with the UBC Faculty of Medicine
• Experience working with concurrent disorders and the general psychiatric disorders population
• Experience with academic psychiatry
• Completion of the provincially mandated Mental Health Act module
• Experience/training with CERNER & FESR
• Demonstrated understanding of Trauma-Informed Practice, Cultural Safety, Gender Affirming Care, and Equity Oriented Care in action/practice and completion of appropriate education:
• Safe Care
• San’yas Anti-Racism Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program
• Intro to Gender Diversity
• Trauma- and Violence- Informed Care (TVIC) Foundations
• Equipping for Equity
• Emergency psychiatry experience
• Outpatient experience
• ACT/AOT experience
• OAT trained
• Active Methadone licence
• DBT experience and training is an asset

Knowledge & Abilities:

• A demonstrated ability working as a member of an interdisciplinary mental health team
• A commitment to participate in new methods in health improvement and care delivery
• A demonstrated ability/understanding of implementing harm reduction practice in action
• Excellent knowledge of community resources
• A demonstrated commitment to education

Interested in applying? Feel free to reach out to Khuushali Raja, Executive and Medical Staff Talent Acquisition Advisor: medstaffcareers@vch.ca or click “Apply Now.”

As per Ministry of Health policy, all health care workers working in publicly-funded health care facilities are required to report their past receipt of certain vaccines or history of certain infections. Collecting these records will allow for offering of any missing vaccines, and for appropriate actions to be taken in the event of any future exposure to a communicable disease or during outbreaks. For all new hires and appointments to Vancouver Coastal Health, you will be asked to provide this information as part of the onboarding process.

WHY JOIN VANCOUVER COASTAL HEALTH?

VCH is a world class innovator in medical care, research and teaching, delivering service to more than one million BC residents. At VCH, we embrace thinking boldly, taking smart risks, and "going first" when we believe it will lead to the best possible outcomes for patients and their families. We invite you to join us in creating healthy lives in healthy communities by showcasing our passion for care, connection to the communities we serve and our culture of teamwork that makes VCH a great place to work.

• Comprehensive health benefits package, including MSP, extended health and dental and municipal pension plan
• Grow your career with employer-paid training and leadership development opportunities
• Wellness supports, including counselling, critical incident and innovative wellness services are available to employees and their immediate families
• Award-winning recognition programs to honour staff, medical staff and volunteers

At Vancouver Coastal Health, our vision of healthy lives in healthy communities inspires us and our values and pillars guide us. We support equitable practices, diverse teams and inclusive environments, which are vital to creating welcoming spaces where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and feel supported. We encourage applications from equity-deserving communities, including Indigenous Peoples and members of racialized groups, people with disabilities and people of all gender identities and expressions and sexual orientation.

Vancouver Coastal Health is proud to be recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers in 2024.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted for this posting.


***Employees of VCH must apply online via the Internal Career Portal on CareerHub, you are currently viewing the External Career Portal. Refer to the https://my.vch.ca/working-here/job-postings site for instructions on how to view internal job postings and how to apply as an employee. Current VCH employees who apply to this posting using this external site will be considered as an external candidate. Seniority will not apply.***

Thank you for your interest in Vancouver Coastal Health.