The Provincial Health Authority said it’s now looking to hire a new clinical director of the Colony Farm mental health facility after Dr. Johann Brink announced that he’s retiring.
Brink has been with the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital that houses people found not responsible for their crimes due to mental disorders for 16 years.
“The retirement announcement is quite convenient, the timing, I mean over the last year, he and the hospital have dealt with reports of 200 patients missing over the last decade, two of whom are still at large,” Dave Teixeira, who speaks on behalf of the family of Darcie Clarke, the estranged wife of patient Allan Schoenborn and the mother of the three children he killed in 2008, said.
READ MORE: Schoenborn victims’ family anxious after psych patient escape
The Provincial Health Authority released a statement confirming that Brink had resigned as vice-president, Medical Affairs and Research across the whole portfolio of BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services.
The statement said Brink made his intention known at the beginning of August and that he wanted “to pursue his academic, national, and international work and private practice in forensic psychiatry and complex mental health. Recruitment efforts for his replacement are currently underway.”
The BC Government Employee’s Union said it’s optimistic that the new staff that is hired will make employee safety a priority.
“What we’re going see, I hope, is a greater focus on staff health and safety, greater care towards patients, hopefully a greater focus on victims and understanding that their concerns are paramount and also our public safety, I think that those four have been missing,” Teixeira said.
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