The Greenhouse: a chance to heal and a place to grow

When the Older Adult Mental Health Inpatient Unit moved from Baringa at Caulfield Hospital to The Alfred in June 2025, it did more than just relocate its services.

The Greenhouse is not only a superb new facility that enables its best version, but it also meant that The Alfred became the first in Victoria to enact one key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

Dr Maria Tsanglis, the Deputy Director of Adult and Older Adult Service, and Head of Aged Psychiatry, said the move has been a long time coming.

“We now have a physical environment befitting the care needs of our patients and also befitting our staff,” she said.

“It is a much more appropriate space in which to provide care for our patients.”

Other components in Aged Psychiatry include a community-based team at the St Kilda Rd Clinic, providing care for up to 180 people at a time, and a consultation liaison service at Caulfield Hospital.

The Greenhouse is a 15-bed inpatient unit that provides mental healthcare generally for people aged over 65 at The Alfred. Care is provided for people with a range of illnesses and associated complications, people who have long-term mental health issues and then some who develop issues for the first time in older age.

A refurbished facility, The Greenhouse is designed to create a welcoming environment and is tailored to the needs of patients, carers and families.

The Greenhouse name was chosen to symbolise growth, renewal and connection, reflecting our commitment to healing and wellbeing.

It marks a significant upgrade on Baringa, which was opened in 1995 at Caulfield Hospital and became “increasingly less suitable” for its purpose.

“Our changing patient population and the increased mental health and physical health complexity that our patients were presenting with, combined with a lack of upgrade to our environment, meant that it was no longer best meeting our patient care needs,” Dr Tsanglis said.

“We still have the same number of beds, but we’ve gone from a unit with a small footprint, one communal space, shared bedrooms and minimal outdoor space, to a unit that has 15 single bedrooms with ensuites, three distinct outdoor spaces and many communal spaces. So the physical environment is much bigger, much brighter and better suited to the care we want to provide.”

Baringa was also the only acute unit on a sub-acute campus at Caulfield, so moving to an acute campus meant that The Alfred became the first and only mental health service in Victoria to enact that key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, which was tabled in 2021.

Another benefit to the move to The Alfred is increased access to after-hours support, including mental health staff, registrars, consultants and clinicians: “It is a complete transformation of services that are available to all our patients 24 hours a day.”

The transformation in environment and care at The Greenhouse was profound for Janet Lovett, a patient living with bipolar disorder, and her son Josh Guest.

After experiencing her first acute episode in 25 years at the end of 2024, Janet was admitted to the Baringa ward.

“It was a very secure, comforting experience,” she recalled. “The nursing staff were amazing.” 

For Josh, now an adult with a young family of his own, the suddenness of his mum’s relapse was confronting.

“There’s a long family history with Mum’s illness,” he said. “But as an adult ... there is no rulebook or document to help deal with this stuff.

“You can’t prepare for seeing your loved one lose their grip on reality and what’s happening around them. It happens very, very quickly and accelerates ... your life goes on pause.

“But then, from those first interactions with the nursing staff, I quickly understood how well-organised and complete the care is. Not only medically, but the reassurance and calming voice to me and the family that everything is going to be OK.”

In the final weeks of her admission, Janet was transferred to The Greenhouse.

“Baringa served a purpose,” Josh said. “The doctors and nursing staff were amazing, but I think it’s an incredibly challenging environment.

“But now it feels that the physical place at The Greenhouse matches the quality of care.”

The Josh & Tarryn Guest Foundation is proudly supporting initiatives that focus on mental health nursing and staff wellbeing.

This story appeared in our 2025 publicaton of Impact, The Alfred Foundation's year in review.

To read the full report, you can view and download it here.