[Integration of first line mental health services : A study of the model developed at the Pointe-St-Charles Community Clinic.]

A close examination of the experience of collaboration established over the past 25 years between the Clinique communautaire de Pointe-St-Charles - which has the primary care mandate of a CLSC (local community services), and the Douglas Hospital, a centre specialized in psychiatry, - has allowed to document a particular type of partnership for adult mental health services. With the support of a team of psychiatric consultants, first line multidisciplinary teams of professionals are responsible for the treatment plan established as well as ensuring, if necessary, continuity of long-term care. This approach also counts on the fact this clinic is deeply-rooted in the neighborhood as well as on the tradition of collaboration with many community organizations servicing people treated at this clinic. This model of organization is submitted to pressures caused by the transformation of the health and social services system. This study realized during the transformation period, has allowed to shed new light on the conditions of realization of the intervention model at the Pointe-St-Charles community clinic and identify points of improvement by considering the perspective of consumers and professionals involved.