Our History

Ottawa campus

The Royal has been serving our community since 1910. It began as Lady Grey Hospital, also known as Royal Ottawa Sanatorium, and first opened to treat tuberculosis (TB) patients. Over the next 60 years, The Royal would treat 11,000 TB patients, but slowly transitioned to offering other programs.

In 1961, The Royal received a designation to treat “emotional and psychiatric disorders.” In the following years, the Rehabilitation Institute of Ottawa moved onto campus to serve people with physical disabilities as well.

Changing focus

In 1969, the organization was renamed the Royal Ottawa Hospital (ROH). When the hospital’s final tuberculosis ward closed in 1970, it turned its attention full-time to opening new clinics and services to treat patients in the Ottawa region with the most severe mental illness needs. In 2002, the Rehabilitation Centre relocated to The Ottawa Hospital, and The Royal partnered with the Province of Ontario to build a new, state-of-the-art facility for mental illness treatment.

A modern hospital

In 2006, the new Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre opened as a centre of excellence for treatment and world-class research in mental illness.

Today’s 400,000 square-foot facility features a psychiatric teaching hospital with 188 inpatient beds, advanced research and imaging labs, and a charitable foundation. We integrate research into treatment and offer tailored care in collaboration with each individual patient and their support system.

We partner closely with government, business and community leaders, and stand as leaders in mental illness and community support in Eastern Ontario.

Brockville campus

The Brockville campus has operated since 1894, leading the development of effective treatments for people with mental illness. In its early years, this facility pioneered new approaches to treatment and training, including specialized training in psychiatric nursing, occupational therapy, vocational therapy, and recreational therapy, as well as community outreach programs.

Joining a bigger picture

In 1984, Brockville campus became affiliated with the University of Ottawa as an official teaching hospital. The province’s first Assertive Community Treatment Teams — known as ACT Teams — were established in the late 1980s by a group of Brockville staff. This team recognized the need for accessible, community-based treatment, and the initiative has served as a model for similar programs elsewhere in the province.

Initially slated for closure in 1999, the ongoing need for mental health services meant that the Brockville Mental Health Centre continued to operate as an accredited psychiatric teaching facility, affiliated with the University of Ottawa and Queen’s University. The campus provides forensic psychiatry treatment for 100 Ontario correctional inmates, and 59 long-term care forensic patients. It also provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services to approximately 1,300 patients in Eastern Ontario.

The hospital officially joined The Royal in 2000, serving the populations of Leeds-Grenville, south Lanark, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, and Prescott-Russell counties.

Today, The Royal’s Brockville campus includes a 59-bed forensic treatment unit (FTU) and a 100-bed secure treatment unit (STU). Brockville also serves individuals in the wider community through the Assertive Community Treatment Dual Diagnosis (ACTDD) team, geriatric outreach, the Homes for Special Care program, forensic outreach and other outpatient programs.