The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre will focus on meeting the needs of women with a new program designed specifically for them.
Hospital executives, Ontario Children and Youth Services Minister Laurel Broten and mental health spokesperson Margaret Trudeau yesterday attended the official opening of the Shirley E. Greenberg Resource Centre for Women, which will house the Women’s Mental Health Program.
Greenberg donated $1.5 million towards the program, the largest gift ever received by the hospital in its 100-year history.
“Women experience mental illness differently from men,” said Dr. Allison Freeland, who heads the new program.
“Women’s unique physiology has a bearing on mental health treatments and their effectiveness.
In addition, women’s traditional social responsibilities as mother and caregiver and partner can impact or be impacted by mental illness.”
Trudeau, former wife of prime minister Pierre Trudeau, spoke about her own struggles with mental illness and her treatment at the Royal.
