Chatham-Kent Health Alliance

The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is an acute care public hospital with campuses in both Chatham and Wallaceburg. Mental Health Services (MHS) is one department of the Alliance, and is comprised of a 20-bed psychiatric inpatient unit and an outpatient mental health and addictions clinic. A multidisciplinary treatment team specialized in mental health serve the 110,000 residents of Chatham-Kent.

Teaching Programs

  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate

Undergraduate Students: The program is flexible enough to accommodate student interests, such as those wishing to do family practice or another specialty.

Undergraduate Psychiatry rotations available in Chatham and Sarnia, Ontario

Postgraduate Students: For the postgraduate student, the program offers the option to manage patients independently with supervision. The program could be tailored to suit the student's clinical, academic and research interests.

Nature of Experience: Diverse experiential opportunity exists for students who choose their clinical experience at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Department of Psychiatry. Students will actively participate in consultation, follow-up treatment of psychiatric inpatients, serious, chronically mentally ill outpatients, and psychiatric crisis emergency room response. As well, opportunity exists to participate in psychiatric consultation and treatment at the Chatham-Kent PACT office and the Adult 1 Unit (chronic care) at St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital.

Outpatient clinical practice include specialties in:

  • Concurrent Disorders Treatment (addictions and mental health)
  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
  • Clozaril Clinic
  • Dementia & Memory Disorders Program
  • Outreach Geriatrics
  • Outreach Dual Diagnoses
  • Group Therapies: Depression Group, General Wellness Group, Anger Group, and a variety of Alcohol/Drug/Gambling Addictions Therapy Groups.

Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is on the cutting edge of computerized healthcare technology and has received a number of information system technology awards in recent years. Students will learn about and practice Physician Portal, on-line clinical documentation, physician order entry, etc.

Tele-Video Crisis and Telepsychiatry are two new programs initiated recently. Using the latest teleconference technology, psychiatrists, family physicians, the emergency department and mental health treatment team provide on-line treatment between the Wallaceburg and Chatham Alliance sites. Students will actively participate in this innovative treatment modality.

Psychiatric medical research is ongoing at the Department of Psychiatry as a way of ensuring that Chatham-Kent patients have the best treatment available based on research-based best practice. Chatham research data is presented on a regular basis the Ontario Psychiatric Association and Canadian Psychiatric Association. Students are encouraged to learn about research initiatives and contribute as time permits.

CKHA Mental Health Services has a very proactive continuing medical education program. The MHS Education Coordinator will provide a calendar of CME events to choose from, and students may actually present one CME to physicians and the Mental Health mutlidisciplinary team during their placement. As well, students are provided a series of educational journal articles relevant to the practice of psychiatry. The CKHA Library allows 24/7 student access to hard copy and free electronic access to Internet healthcare databases and the University of Western Ontario web sites,.

The Chief of Psychiatry is keenly interested in medico-legal, administrative and forensic psychiatry. He is an active member of the Ontario Review Board and the Consent and Capacity Board. When opportunity arises, students will be invited to attend a Board hearing for observational learning.

Accommodation/Meals: Complementary comfortable, private accommodation and nutritional meals are available to students in their choice of a historic bed and breakfast just off Highway 401, or motel in beautiful downtown Chatham. For Residents, a Chatham sports club membership is also available for their six-week rotation.

Location: Chatham and Wallaceburg are located 45 minutes distance from Windsor and Sarnia and Erie Beach, and one hour from London. The municipality of Chatham-Kent has strong accents of historical heritage with early settlers attracted to the agricultural wealth in Southwestern Ontario. Chatham-Kent today is largely a family community with residents who are interested in meaningful work, education, sports and cultural recreation. Students will find a variety of extracurricular activities during their stay in friendly Chatham-Kent.

For Further Information please visit CKHA website.