Thanks to a $30,000 donation from the Douglas Institute Auxiliary, Burgess-1 is now equipped with a brand new therapeutic kitchen. This kitchen will be used to assess patients who have been recently admitted to the unit. How patients act in the kitchen reveals a lot about their degree of independence and their organizational skills. Doctors use these behaviours as a basis for deciding whether the person can return to the community.

The kitchen will also be used to teach patients new skills that will be useful later on: creating menus, following recipes, or using healthy but affordable ingredients.


Auxiliary President Mary Campbell wanted to mark her group’s 50th anniversary with a special project, and their investment definitely paid off. “I have a feeling of achievement,” she said. “The auxiliaries are always trying to improve the lives of patients and I think this is one of the best things we have ever done.”

Occupational therapist Anna Scardocchio is also thrilled, as she no longer has to run to the Newman Pavilion kitchen to perform her assessments: she can now do everything on site at the Burgess. “The new kitchen is more private and better equipped; it also looks a lot like anyone’s kitchen at home.”

The new therapeutic kitchen was made possible because of the vision of the auxiliaries, the technical services project team and the Psychosis Hospitalisation Unit team.