The Newly Institute Promises A Mental Health ‘Paradigm Shift’ With New Fredericton Clinic
FREDERICTON–The Newly Institute is now open in Fredericton. The new, private outpatient clinic is the institute’s second location, behind its flagship clinic in Calgary.
It also marks the first phase of the institute’s national expansion strategy. The goal of the strategy is to become Canada’s largest operator of mental health, addiction, trauma, and chronic pain clinics.
In addition to the new Fredericton location, The Newly Institute already has clinics planned for Edmonton and St. John’s, with more to come in other cities.
The clinic is also doing a pilot project with WorkSafeNB, having already formed relationships with Wounded Warriors, Retrain Canada, and Wayfinders Retreat.
Medication not enough
Treatment for most mental health concerns is often medication and an increasing number of Canadians are being prescribed antidepressants instead of therapy.
The Newly Institute’s Dr. Robert Tanguay wants to change that.
Tanguay is the vice-president and chief medical officer at the institute. He says most addiction and chronic pain programming lacks mental health and trauma therapies. He suggests that, while many still benefit from those programs, they can lead to chronic and debilitating outcomes.
For people seeking the professional help that specialized cognitive therapies can provide, timely access from within the public healthcare system can be few and far between.
Tanguay argues mental health treatment is in drastic need of a paradigm shift in Canada, so The Newly Institute’s mission to build a network of intensive outpatient clinics across the country could not come at a better time.
Tanguay still works in the public healthcare system, running Alberta’s largest addition and medicine program. The program treats more than 5,000 people a year with a team of 18 doctors and 30 councillors.
“My goal there has always been to create trauma-focused therapy on-demand,” Tanguay said.
Despite the politics and operations standing in the way, he says that goal remains important to him.
“I have a chip on my shoulder because I can’t change the public system but what I can do is step out of it, build something and prove that we can do it better, cheaper, more effective, and treat people better,” he said.
Comprehensive treatment model
The Newly’s programs are designed for first responders, veterans, health care workers, and anyone suffering from trauma, addiction, and pain.
Tanguay says the institute is looking to pioneer a different kind of intensive outpatient program, one with a personalized approach that’s offered through a bio-psycho-social-spiritual treatment model and supplemented by medically managed therapies, when appropriate.
One of those medically managed therapies is ketamine, which has been found to provide fast relief for many patients with major depression that resistant to treatment. Ketamine is also used to help those who suffer from chronic pain.
The Newly Institute’s Fredericton branch is now accepting clients, with medical professionals on staff to help patients overcome deeply embedded traumas, addiction, and pain.
Kassie Smith graduated from UNB and began her career in a long-term care home before becoming an emergency room nurse at Fredericton’s Doctor Everett Chalmers Hospital.
She told Huddle the emergency room is where she first developed an interest in helping people who are struggling with PTSD, trauma, and addictions.
Smith also doubled as a tour provider of The Newly Institute’s new facility, at 5 Acorn Street. At one point, she showed a treatment room that offered several ways for patients to make contact but still maintain a level of privacy in a soundproof environment.
Calming music is piped throughout the building, with each treatment room able to independently adjust the level of lighting to correspond with mood and help patients adapt to treatment.
A healing path for First Responders
Dr. Tanguay said mental illness costs Canadians more than $50 billion per year in medical treatment and loss of productivity; more than 500,000 people miss work every week because of mental health concerns.
Jim Clifford spent 31 years with the RCMP, eight of them working in the labour relations branch. He’s now director for The National Police Federation’s Atlantic Region.
He has seen the pressure put on police officers. He says the average adult will experience eight to 10 traumatic events throughout their life. But police officers will experience between 800 and 1,000 throughout their career.
Mark Hartlen served as Halifax Regional Police Association president before becoming involved in its benefits plan.
He says that experience exposed him to what he described as “an awful lot of first responders suffering with mental health issues.” He said The Newly Institute now hopes to offer a solution.
Hartlen says the inherent interest from his own experiences naturally led him to discussions with Newly’s executive directors, He said it not only morphed into an opportunity for him to become an advocate for its services, but it also led him to his current role as the institute’s senior advisor in stakeholder relations.
“It’s about rapid access, rapid treatment, and rapid resolution,” says Hartlen. “I remember that so much, even from my first meetings, because the public health system does what it does, what it can do, and we all would admit at times that public health is overburdened and overtaxed, but they are doing their very best,” he said.
Hartlen believes having specialized services provided by The Newly Institute can augment a public system that can falter too easily from limited access points for people who now require mental health treatment just to cope, let alone return to their job.
“When you spend your whole career in this line of work you will see people suffering – and we are still there to help people – but it’s frustrating when you can’t help your own.”
Tyler Mclean is a Huddle reporter based in Fredericton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].