Monitor on Psychology - June 2012 - (Page 49)

Agent of Psychologist Patrick Canavan has turned a once notoriously decrepit mental health hospital into a gleaming, state-ofthe-art facility. BY BRE NDAN L . S MI TH change M any psychologists would have thought twice about stepping in to lead St. Elizabeths Hospital in 2007. The historic mental health facility was in dire disrepair and under federal investigation for numerous lapses in patient care, including inappropriate treatment plans, excessive use of restraints and dangerous living conditions. But Patrick Canavan, PhD, accepted the challenge. He was actually coming home to the place where he started his career as a forensic psychology intern. He was shocked by the hospital’s conditions. “We didn’t have enough nurses. We didn’t have enough physicians, and I couldn’t recruit people,” he says. “They didn’t want to come here and bank their reputation on ours.” It didn’t help that the buildings were falling apart. Established by Congress in 1852 as the U.S. Government Hospital for the Insane, the facility had sprawled to include dozens of buildings, all sorely neglected. When Canavan took over, more than 400 patients were living in eight buildings that were rife with peeling paint, urine-stained tiles and closed corridors that were beyond repair. Plastic sheeting covered some windows, and water pipes dating to the 1870s frequently burst in winter. When Canavan visited the medical records building, an employee told him to wear a filter mask because heavy rains had triggered a ceiling collapse and a massive mold infestation. “The facility was just awful,” he says. Now, five years later, St. Elizabeths is housed in a cuttingedge campus built with $143 million in D.C. government 49 JUNE 2012 • MONITOR ON PSYCHOLOGY

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - June 2012

Monitor on Psychology - June 2012
Letters
President’s column
Contents
From the CEO
Give an Hour founder is one of Time magazine’s ‘most influential’
APA treatment guidelines panels are being formed
APA supports ‘Speak Up For Kids’
In Brief
Time Capsule
Random Sample
Judicial Notebook
Questionaire
APA honors Howell
Science Watch
Science Directions
What you should know about online education
Speaking of Education
Psychologist Profile
Redefining masculinity
Miscarriage and loss
Something for everyone
Candidates weigh in
Division Spotlight
American Psychological Foundation
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - June 2012