The kitchen: it’s the heart of a home. For some patients at The Royal, it’s the heart of the hospital, too. Occupational therapists at The Royal run cooking groups for clients in all programs, and these groups play an important role in many clients’ recovery.
As they celebrate 20 years in business, Ottawa company Astro Design Centre decided it wanted to use its expertise to give back to the community. They learned that The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre was running important occupational therapy programs out of a basic, sparsely equipped kitchen and were inspired to transform the space.
“The first group I attended when I was admitted to The Royal was the cooking group,” says Kieran Menard, who was a client in The Royal’s Youth Program and is now entering his third year of university.
“Every week, we’d get together and prepare a home cooked meal. It taught me important lessons such as cooking on a budget, making balanced meals, and basic cooking skills, but most importantly it gave me the feeling that I was not alone. The kitchen not only taught us how to cook, but how to live.”
The new kitchen is beautiful, bright, modern, and well-equipped. It doesn’t feel like an industrial kitchen, and it doesn’t feel like a hospital. It’s just a really nice place to work, learn, and share a meal.
"Every week, we’d get together and prepare a home cooked meal. It taught me important lessons such as cooking on a budget, making balanced meals, and basic cooking skills, but most importantly it gave me the feeling that I was not alone. The kitchen not only taught us how to cook, but how to live."“When Astro came in, they asked us how we use this space,” says Melanie Taylor, The Royal’s professional practice lead for occupational therapy. “They asked us to give them a wishlist for the kitchen, and we came up with a long list of wants. Astro beyond surpassed that list.”
The Royal's new Central Services Occupational Therapy kitchen opened on May 31, 2018. It will be a major asset in The Royal's multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted approach to care. Clients living with severe mental illness will have the opportunity to develop life skills, social skills, and even vocational skills, including safe food handling, as they work towards recovery and living independently in the community.
Menard and Ed Pollitt, a client in The Royal’s Geriatric Psychiatry Program, shared their excitement and gratitude for the new kitchen at the grand opening on Thursday.
Pollitt, 81, has been coming to the cooking group for almost four years, since shortly after his wife’s death. She was the cook in the family, and Ed was left to figure out "this terrible black magic thing called cooking."
"Mental health is something that often goes unnoticed when it comes to charities, but it’s something that affects every one of us. The Royal was a perfect fit."Thanks to the cooking group, he says he is no longer afraid of cooking. He has learned a lot about healthy eating and recipes he can make at home, but it's the people that keep him coming to group.
"At this stage of life, you need socialization," he says. "As you get to my age, everyone you know is between 75 and 85. Here, I’ve met lovely people of all ages, all backgrounds, and at the end of the time you get to share a really great meal.”
Pollitt had a career as an architect, and said he was “blown away” by the new kitchen. “It’s a vast improvement over what we had. Everything is beautiful. Everything is doubled: double sinks, double stoves, double fridges, double the workspace,” he said. “Thank you, Astro Design, for doing this for us.”
Astro Design Centre wanted to give back to their community in a way that would impact people every day, and this kitchen is certainly that. Every week, more than 100 clients use the kitchen, and demand is growing due to the new and improved kitchen.
“Mental health is something that often goes unnoticed when it comes to charities, but it’s something that affects every one of us,” said Astro Design Centre owner Jimmy Georgitsos at the kitchen’s opening. “The Royal was a perfect fit – thank you for giving us this opportunity.”
WHO'S IN THE KITCHEN?
The Central Services Occupational Therapy Clinic is used five days a week, and serves more than 100 clients each week. It is also used by recreation therapy groups, and the new kitchen provides the opportunity to serve more clients – it has inspired plans for a new Youth Supper Club, and there will likely be more growth to come!
All clients at The Royal have personalized recovery goals that they are working towards; clinicians will refer them to the groups that best support their goals. Here are some of the groups that operate out of the Central Services Occupational Therapy Kitchen.
Dinner Club (Central Services Occupational Therapy cooking groups)
There are three dinner club groups each week open to clients (inpatient or outpatient) from programs throughout The Royal. These groups give clients the opportunity to participate in meaningful activity while developing and practicing life skills and social skills. These groups include things like meal planning, cooking, food safety, communication, and healthy eating on a budget. The groups run for three hours, during which clients review the recipes (selected by a different client each week) then break into teams to work on different tasks or elements of the meal. At the end, they sit down and eat together then clean up and plan for the following week’s meal by discussing ideas and looking at flyers for ingredients and prices. There is a budget of $25 to $30 for each meal that feeds 10 people.
Occupational Therapy Cooking Transition Group
This group is for clients who have ‘graduated’ from the Dinner Club and are moving from intensive treatment programs towards recovery and independent living. In the transition group, the clients meet once a month to plan, budget and prepare a meal together. Each client is given portions of the meal to take home and freeze for when they may not feel up to preparing a meal themselves.
#Bakeology (formerly Sunshine Bakery)
This small bakery serves as a vocational program for clients of The Royal’s Forensic Psychiatry Program. Clients prepare baked goods for sale at the café within the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre and they are involved in managing the planning, inventory and finances for the group. The skills learned are transferrable to paid employment or volunteer opportunities.
Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is a program for inpatients of the Schizophrenia Program at The Royal. Once a week, they can come to the kitchen to prepare their own breakfast. This is an important opportunity for them to engage in and activity that is meaningful to them providing enjoyment, motivation and a sense of accomplishment. It can also be used as an opportunity for clinicians to assess clients’ cognitive skills.
Baking Group
Baking Group is a recreation therapy group that predominantly serves inpatients. The group engages clients in enjoyable leisure activity, providing valuable opportunities for social engagement.