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Mental Health and Substance Use Opportunities

Fraser Health mental health and substance use services focus on improving overall health and quality of life, harm reduction, primary and collaborative care, withdrawal management, community outreach and residential care. We offer various adult and youth substance rehabilitation and recovery services targeting the most appropriate needs for individuals and communities.

From community mental health centres that offer services to improve quality of life by restoring and preserving mental health at all ages to a range of intensive and highly specialized care services for people living with serious and persistent mental illnesses, Fraser Health offers a variety of career opportunities to support primary and secondary in-patient and community mental health services.
RN / RPN
Recreational Therapist
Social Worker
Occupational Therapist
Mental Health Care Worker
Clinical Psychologist
Rehabilitation Assistant, Older Adult
Social Program Officer
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We’re proud of the innovations, research and quality improvement projects we’ve achieved in recent years:

A Phase 1 state-of-the-art Mental Health and Substance Use Wellness Centre has been developed to treat and support the growing demand for acute mental health services. A patient-centred design uses input from our psychiatrists, clinicians, patients and their families to create an inviting, spacious, and therapeutic sanctuary where patients can feel safe, respected, and free to express their feelings. Windows and natural light, views of the river, wood finishings, nature and First Nations motifs, as well as ‘green’ building features create a beautiful, calming place for patients.

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Watch a guided tour video with Dr. Anson Koo, Program Medical Director, Mental Health and Substance Use.

“It’s an exciting time for the team – we’re expanding mental health and substance use services to meet the growing needs of the clients we serve,” shares Louise Setchell, inpatient unit, mental health and substance use manager, Royal Columbian Hospital redevelopment project. “It’s amazing to be part of building the future of mental health and substance use care.”

These rooms use spinning chairs and weighted blankets to help mental-health patients cope with anxiety and depression as part of a continuity of care model that is the first of its kind in B.C. By helping people better understand how their senses impact their mood and behaviour, patients learn how to either stimulate or calm their senses when they need to improve their state of mind. This is one of the innovative ways Fraser Health is helping to improve the lives of people struggling with mental health concerns.

The opening of the largest unit of its kind in B.C, this 24/7 regional crisis unit supports children and youth aged six to 17 who are in acute mental health crisis with psychiatric issues such as depression, psychosis or severe behavioural disorders. In the Snoezelen™ room, bubble tubes can light up, a chair can move to the beat of music, and a milky-way carpet on the wall can light up when touched. Young patients can crawl up, around and over a square foam cube, project images on the ceiling and the wall, sit or lie on the heated floor, cocoon in a heavy blanket, or relax on an elevated mat that gives a gentle massage. The multi-sensory environment/materials can calm and reduce agitation and anxiety through the use of gentle light, soothing sound, relaxing smell and touch. Or, they can stimulate through exciting visuals, music, sounds and textures to explore.

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Become a member of a team of specialized doctors, nurses, youth care counselors, social workers and occupational therapists supporting young people in B.C.’s largest inpatient child and adolescent crisis facility.

2017: Opening of SafePoint in Surrey, the first supervised consumption site in North America to be located outside downtown Vancouver. The provision of supervised consumption services is one component of the provincial and regional response to the public health emergency declared in April 2016. Supervised consumption services help reduce the transmission of disease, reduce fatal overdoses, and help connect people to health care services, including treatment.

“When I was studying nursing, I did a practicum at Insite Supervised Consumption Site in downtown Vancouver and was instantly inspired by the work. I had found my purpose. I wanted to help people have access to health care, no matter what their background was… In May 2017, I came to Fraser Health and helped launch SafePoint Supervised Consumption Site. I love seeing new things blossom and have an impact. Success is a thanks or smile from someone who would never engage and now shares their life story with me. It’s seeing a person who is marginalized come here and experience being part of a community.” Sherif Amara, Client Care Coordinator at SafePoint Supervised Consumption Site.  
 
Are you ready to make an impact with Fraser Health? Create your profile and explore our current list of opportunities. 
Surrey Memorial Hospital
Urgent Care Response Centre
Located in the Charles Barham Pavilion at Surrey Memorial Hospital, the Urgent Care Response Centre provides easy-to-access services for adults in Surrey who need urgent support for a mental health or substance use challenges.

If you are a professional specializing in mental health and substance use, we would love to hear from you. Become a part of our innovative environment. 

Meet some team members in Mental Health and Substance Use

as they share the positive impacts of the work they do.

Dr. Amy Burns, Clinical Psychologist
Meet Dr. Amy Burns, Clinical Psychologist at the new Mental Health and Substance Use Wellness Centre at Royal Columbian Hospital as she shares her experience working with Fraser Health.
 
“As a Clinical Psychologist on an inpatient unit, I work with a multidisciplinary team to provide a full range of psychological services including assessment, diagnosis, and intervention.
 
I started at Fraser Health first as a psychology practicum student and then as a psychology intern. During internship I worked with a staff psychologist on a grant looking at improving functional recovery using cognitive remediation. Our research proposal was successful and was one of the largest operating grants Fraser Health received. Conducting research in outpatient mental health settings have helped me to understand community resources better which helps inform my current work.
 
I’ve been most impressed with how well the different members of my team work together in their different areas of responsibility and practice. As a psychologist, I bring one skillset and perspective, built through one educational and professional pathway, to patient care. I’ve really enjoyed working with a multidisciplinary team and appreciate the different perspective we all bring to client care. The genuine teamwork I see every day, and the way in which the people around me sincerely do care about the people we serve has been a constant source of motivation and satisfaction for me.
 
Our program recently expanded from 30 beds to 75 beds and moved to the new Mental Health and Substance Use Wellness Centre at Royal Columbian Hospital. The expansion and move came with lots of challenges but our team was flexible and rose to those challenges exceptionally. Now our patients get to enjoy being in a brand new building that is much more therapeutic with access to outdoor space.”
 
We asked Dr. Burns what makes her most proud to work at Fraser Health. Here’s what she had to say:
“The Fraser Health region is growing faster than any other region of British Columbia, and so there is an energy and a drive in the organization that you don’t see everywhere. We serve communities ranging from the dense urban environments of Burnaby and Surrey to the farmland of the Fraser Valley further east. It doesn’t get more diverse, unpredictable, and exciting, than it gets right here.”
 
“Never lose sight of our patient care goals,” she shares for someone who might be considering a similar career. “It is easy to get lost, sometimes, in the day-to-day paperwork, meetings, or other things like that. Each day you have a chance to do something that really impacts someone’s life for the better and you don’t know what that thing will be until after you did it.”
 
“Different. Meaningful. Present,” are three words Amy would use to describe her workday.
 
Outside of her life at work, you can find Amy camping, snowboarding, playing piano with her daughter and volunteering with her Cub Scout group.

Interested in opportunities in Psychology? Browse all opportunities.