The Mental Health & Wellness Resource Centre is committed to providing persons in recovery, their families, and community members with easy access to reliable, user-friendly information about mental health, addictions and related issues. The Resource Centre provides support and educational material that enables informed decision-making and compliments care. Resources are available in a variety of formats including print, video, DVD and audio, along with internet access.

Staff and volunteers are available to assist visitors in finding information that is relevant to their needs and interests.

The Mental Health and Wellness Resource Centre is part of the Mental Health and Addictions Program's Peer Support Services. As such, staff and volunteers use their personal experience as persons in recovery and/or family members along with their professional expertise to support all visitors to the Centre.

Computer Use Policies

Computers are meant for educational and research purposes regarding mental health and related topics. Priority for usage will always be given to people in recovery and family members.

• Food and drink are not permitted in the computer area.
• There is a 40-minute time limit for individuals using the computer. If there is no demand for the computer by another person when your 40 minutes are up you may request a time extension.
• Downloading any material from the Internet is not permitted on Resource Centre computers unless approved by the Coordinator.
• Computer disks, CD's, DVDs and other media from outside the Resource Centre are not permitted to be used/shared on Resource Centre Computers.
• Users are asked not to change any of the computer settings and/or default settings in any of the programs made available to them.
• Email accounts may be accessed and opened on Resource Centre computers, however, downloading of attachments is not permitted.
• Items should not be saved on the computer hard-drive. Diskettes are available in the resource centre for personal use, but will be kept in the Resource Centre if you wish to have continued use of that disk. Anything saved on the hard-drive will be deleted at the end of the day.
• Computer users are not permitted to knowingly open any sites that may be considered illegal, pornographic and/or discriminatory in nature. Users who do not comply with this policy will be banned from any further use of the Resource Centre computers.

Contact

Mental Health and Wellness Resource Centre
St. Joseph's West 5th Campus
100 West 5th Street
Level 2, Block W
Hamilton, Ontario
L8N 3K7
905-522-1155 ext. 35406
Fax: 905-381-5637

We ask that you do not bring any valuables with you as the hospital cannot be responsible for lost or stolen personal items. 

Online Resources

Please explore the useful links in each of the sections identified to learn more about specific mental health disorders and addiction. 

Click here to view and download resources for family/caregivers of people living with mental illness or addition.

Addiction

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's leading addiction and mental health teaching hospital.

Alcohol, Drugs and Gambling Services (ADGS)
This is part of Hamilton's Public Health and Community Services offering assistance for those challenged by addiction.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada
A National organization whose focus is to improve the quality and availability of services to patients and their family members.

Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre
Located at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, the ATRC is a leading-edge research and treatment centre for anxiety disorders.

Anxiety-Panic.com
A search engine for Anxieties, Trauma, Phobias, Stress, Obsessions, Depression and more.

Bookstore - Anxiety Disorders
St. Joseph's Healthcare bookstore for anxiety disorders and other mental health literature.

Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments
A federally incorporated, academically based not-for-profit research organization. The site has many informative articles as well as checklists and referral advice.

Links and Resources
A list of helpful links compiled by the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare.

Anxiety Disorder Lifeline Newsletter
Current articles regarding anxiety as well as a up-to-date web log.

Bipolar Affective Disorder

Bi-polar disorder - links
A large list of links to web resources pertaining to bi-polar affective disorder hosted by psycom.net.

Clinical Issues and Treatment Options
A summary of clinical issues and treatment options from the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments.

Signs and Symptoms
A summary outlining signs and symptoms from the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments.

Borderline Personality Disorder

BPD Central
Comprehensive educational and resource materials specifically for BPD.

Depression

Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments
A comprehensive and informative resource from the Canadian network with a special focus on mood disorders and anxiety.

Managing Depressive Disorders (hyperlink to http://www.canmat.org/di-depression-treatment.php)
A list of therapeutic pharmacological choices for treatment of various types of depression.

Financial Aid

Ontario Disability Support Program
This program provides financial assistance to eligible people with disabilities.

General Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
A comprehensive definition including criteria and treatment options. From the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. 

General Description
A general description of GAD from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America including a self-test and treatment options.

General Mental Health

20 Effects of Stress on the Body
Infographic of the different ways of how stress can physically effect you

Aspergers Society of Ontario
General information about Asperger Syndrome as well as programs and services based in Ontario.

Canadian Mental Health Association
Links, definitions, support and informative articles from this charitable organization that supports resilience and recovery.

HealthyPlace.com
Comprehensive information on psychological disorders and psychiatric medications from both a consumer and expert point of view. This site has active chat rooms, hosted support groups, people who keep online journals/diaries, psychological tests, breaking mental health news, mental health videos, online documentary films, a mental health radio show and more.

Mental Health Matters
Mental health, self-help & psychology information and resources. A very large collection of articles as well as descriptions of disorders, treatments, symptoms, medication and research.

MentalHealthRecovery.com
Mary Ellen Copeland is a mental health recovery educator and author whose focus is on self-help. Her website includes recovery tools as well as other helpful links and resources.

Mental Help Net
A diverse site of resources, articles as well a complete on-line psychological self-help book.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
A U.S. based site for those living with and interested in mental health issues. This site offers information as well as on-line communities and discussion groups.

National Empowerment Centre
A U.S. based agency advocating recovery and empowerment for those labeled with a mental illness.

National Institute of Mental Health
The U.S. Government's official agency for mental health research. The site offers news as well as comprehensive mental health information.

The Center for Re-Integration
A U.S. based site focused on helping those dealing with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder with societal re-integration and employment.

The National Network for Mental Health
A Canadian organization founded by mental health consumers and survivors to educate and inform as well as promote the health and well being of Canadian mental health survivors.

General Physical Health

EATracker Nutrition Guidelines
Track your day's food and activity choices and compare them to the guidelines laid out by Health Canada.

Health Canada
Health Canada's website. Healthy living, health care, diseases and conditions and health protection are the main topics covered.

WebMD
An extensive health site with a sophisticated search engine, medical and medication database and symptom-checker. The site also features a message board categorized according to health topic, including mental health.

Medications

Drug InfoNet
A U.S. based site with drug and disease information and a searchable database.

Mentalhealth.com's Drug Index
Drug monographs for virtually all drugs used in the treatment of mental illness.

WebMD
An extensive health site with a sophisticated search engine, medical and medication database and symptom-checker.

Mood Disorders

Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments
An informative an comprehensive resource from the Canadian network with a special focus on mood disorders as well as anxiety..

Mood Menders Support Services
Mood Menders is a support group. Their goal is to teach coping skills and to provide support to individuals and their families who are affected by mood disorders. They focus in particular on depression and bi-polar affective disorder.

Mood Disorders Association of Ontario
An organization whose mission is to combat the ignorance and stigma that surrounds mental illness in order to give support to all those affected. The site has a quarterly newsletter and on-line discussions.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
A comprehensive definition including criteria and treatment options from the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. 

General Description
A general description of OCD from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America including a self-test and treatment options.

Panic Disorder & Agoraphobia

Panic Disorder with and without Agoraphobia
A comprehensive definition including criteria and treatment options from the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton 

General Description
A general description of Panic Disorder from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America including a self test and treatment options.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
A comprehensive definition including criteria and treatment options from the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

Recovery

Mental Health Recovery and WRAP
Mary Ellen Copeland's site on mental health recovery and self-help strategies. The site offers many articles on recovery as well as numerous helpful links and resources.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia Society of Canada
SSC is a national registered charity founded in 1979 whose mission is to alleviate the suffering caused by schizophrenia and related mental disorders.

Schizophrenia Society of Ontario
The website for the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario. This site offers information and support, community links and resources throughout Ontario, newsletter and a subscription mailing list available.

Social Phobia

Social Anxiety Disorder
A comprehensive definition including criteria and treatment options from the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

General Description
A general description of Social Phobia from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America including a self test and treatment options.

Specific Phobia

Specific Phobia
A comprehensive definition including criteria and treatment options from the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

General Description
A general description of Specific Phobia from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America including a self-test and treatment options

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania Learning Centre
A U.S. based organization whose website has extensive educational information on this anxiety disorder.