What can I expect in treatment for a Dual Diagnosis at Ontario Shores
The Dual Diagnosis program at Ontario Shores works exclusively with adults with intellectual disabilities. The expertise and experience of the Dual Diagnosis team has had great success in helping adults with intellectual disabilities as well as their families and caregivers.
What to Expect
The process of having a referral accepted could take from 1 day up to several weeks depending on several factors, such as the completeness of the referral (missing information requiring follow up), length of the wait list, and on the level or urgency of the patient or family need.
Once a referral has been accepted, you can expect to hear from the Dual Diagnosis Outreach clinician within a week (offered virtually). A date for a virtual initial assessment will be provided during that initial contact. The assessment will take approximately 60 to 90 minutes and be arranged and conducted by Dual Diagnosis Outreach clinician
Arrangements will follow for the consultation (also virtual) that will take approximately 90 minutes. The consulting psychiatrist will make recommendations that could include accessing available community resources and/or determining if other professionals should be involved in the treatment. Should the consulting psychiatrist feel that an inpatient admission is required, arrangements may be made for this when an appropriate bed is available on the Dual Diagnosis Service (DDS) Unit which can take several weeks.
During the admission, an assessment will take place by a multidisciplinary team that includes behavioural, occupational and recreational therapies as well as psychiatric, medical, nursing and social work engagement. Admissions generally take several weeks but are typically less than 90 days.
