Government of Yukon

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FOR RELEASE     #07-271
December 17, 2007

Second Psychiatrist to Open Practice in January

WHITEHORSE – Health and Social Services Minister Brad Cathers is pleased to announce the arrival of a second psychiatrist to Yukon this month.

Dr. James Holmlund will open his new practice in Yukon on January 2, 2008. Holmlund has served as a visiting contract psychiatrist in Watson Lake and Dawson City. His arrival results from a concerted campaign conducted jointly by the Department of Health and Social Services and the Yukon Medical Association.

"We clearly have a need for a second psychiatrist in Yukon and are pleased to welcome Dr. Holmlund," Cathers said. "Certainly Yukon citizens will benefit from an increase in mental health services available."

Holmlund has entered into a three-year contract to provide service in Whitehorse, Watson Lake and Dawson City as well as work with Mental Health Services and Alcohol and Drug Services.
Holmlund says he is looking forward to opening his doors. "What has impressed me most is the commitment of the department and my colleagues to making Yukon a centre of excellence for mental health."

Holmlund is currently in private practice in Salmon Arm, B.C., and works as a sessional psychiatrist for the Ministry of Children and Family Development in Salmon Arm, Revelstoke, Kamloops, Vernon and Golden, B.C. He was most recently Chief of Medicine at the Shuswap Lake General Hospital.  Previously, he was in private practice in general adult psychiatry and an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry. He trained at the universities of Saskatchewan, Harvard and McGill.

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Contact:  
Roxanne Vallevand
Cabinet Communications
(867) 633-7949
roanne.vallevand@gov.yk.ca		 Pat Living, Communications   
Health and Social Services    
(867) 667-3673
patricia.living@gov.yk.ca