Celebrating 50 plus years of youth psychiatry at Sunnybrook
Sunnybrook’s Youth Psychiatry Division celebrated an incredible milestone marking its 50-plus year history in a recent virtual event.
The fiftieth anniversary was originally reached in 2020. Although celebrations were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the special commemoration continued this year.
“We wanted to commemorate the 50-year milestone of the youth psychiatry division in a meaningful way and recognize the clinicians, nurses, social workers, teachers, patients, along with so many others who have helped to develop and enhance youth mental health treatment, care, and research at Sunnybrook over the years,” says Dr. David Kreindler, head of the division of youth psychiatry.
“Sunnybrook’s inpatient youth mental health service was the first of its kind in Toronto,” says Dr. Ari Zaretsky, chief of Sunnybrook’s department of psychiatry. “The division is standing on the shoulders of giants who transformed mental health care for young people and their families. It’s a tradition of excellence that continues today and into the future.”
Guest speakers included the division’s founding members.
In 1970, Dr. Bob Stein became the inaugural head of the Youth Psychiatry Division at Sunnybrook.
“In general, there was very little inpatient support in the city devoted to youth. Young people tended to get short-term treatment in adult units,” explained Dr. Stein.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to have started this program, to see it grow and flourish, and to have been associated with an outstanding group of mental health professionals who have devoted themselves to the treatment of youth and their families,” he said.
It was 1989 when Dr. Stan Kutcher became head of the Youth Psychiatry Division at Sunnybrook. He is currently a Canadian senator.
“We built, what was to my knowledge, the first comprehensive youth mental health research unit in Canada. Our work included the clinical trials of various medications, the development of screening and diagnostic tools, self-rating scales for symptoms and functioning,” explains Senator Kutcher. “We also conducted family studies, population-based studies in schools, and developed the first mental health literacy interventions, for youth onset depression.”
Guest speaker, Julie Pesonen, a patient, shared her family ties to the youth psychiatry division’s long history. In the 1970s, her mother was Dr. Stein’s patient. Years later, Julie became a patient herself.
She expressed her thanks to the team members of Sunnybrook’s department of psychiatry for supporting her as well as her family members.
“The connections through the years are everlasting and for that you have my eternal gratitude.”
