BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services provides specialized hospital and community-based assessment, treatment and clinical case management services to adults with mental health disorders who are in conflict with the law.
We provide these services via the Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, a secure hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., as well as six Forensic Psychiatric Regional Clinics, located in Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey, Nanaimo, Kamloops and Prince George.
Our authority to carry out this work comes from the Forensic Psychiatry Act, the Mental Health Act and the Criminal Code of Canada.
Specific forensic psychiatric services include the following:
- Court-ordered forensic psychiatric assessments
- Hospital and community-based treatment services for people found not criminally responsible for a crime or unfit to stand trial due to a mental disorder
- Psychiatric and psychological pre-sentence psychiatric assessment reports
- Psychiatric assessment and treatment for people referred temporarily to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital from BC Corrections
- Court-ordered assessment and treatment of individuals on bail, probation and with conditional sentences
- Supporting the BC Review Board, an independent tribunal established under the Criminal Code of Canada, by providing expert forensic advice and opinions. Read more on the BC Review Board website