Welcome to the Akausisarvik Centre: Nunavut's first short-term residential haven for homeless people and those with mental health issues who need a place to get grounded and maybe learn some life skills.

The 10-bedroom facility, a few doors up from Baffin Regional Hospital, was officially opened Jan. 17 by Health and Social Services Minister Ed Picco.

"The facility is a long time coming," Picco says.

"In the past, if a person had psychiatric problems or required respite care, we had to send them out of town for help," Picco says. "If they were suicidal, they were put in the drunk tank or in a padded room at the hospital."

The facility isn't a place for free rent, but offers a variety of services to make people more self-reliant.

This can include classroom time to learn life skills such as cooking for oneself, writing up a resume and looking for work, and how to keep their home clean.

People with medication or mental health situations now have a place to go to get themselves sorted out.

"For example, if a family's son was acting irrationally, maybe because he's gone off his medication and is creating problems in the home -- before there was no place to put him. Now we can put him here and give the family a break," Picco explains.

Demand has had an effect on the facility right away.

"We had planned in the first few weeks to have two to three residents, but we already have seven occupants," Picco says.

There are 10 bedrooms divided into separate wings for men and women. Two of the rooms are larger.

"The 'second stage' rooms allow the resident to furnish the room as they'd like," says Akausisarvik manager Shelley Cuthbert of people re-learning social skills.

A kitchen on the main floor provides meals but also acts as a teaching laboratory.

"This is where we offer basic cooking classes and teach about proper nutrition," Cuthbert says. "We balance between Northern and southern diets."

The front lounge is airy and will soon feature a wall-wide mural donated by Cape Dorset artist Peter Ragee.

The kitchen, too, will be decorated, but with painted pictures of arctic animals.

A second kitchen is upstairs in the women's wing, where female residents can prepare private meals.

A laundry room divides the bedroom wings.

A smoking room and arts/crafts room finishes off the amenities.

There are 20 staff including Cuthbert, who's a psychiatric nurse as well as manager.

"About 70-80 per cent of the staff are Inuit, so we're quite pleased there," Picco says.

"As minister of health, this is one promise I made and one that I've kept," Picco says of the facility that will serve the region, not just Iqaluit.

But one hurdle to get past is getting residents fully back into the community ... with a job to go to.

The "mental health" tag is proving to be a non-starter with potential employers, no matter how desperate they are to get basic help.

"It's hard to place them," manager Cuthbert says. "I'd like an employer to step forward and offer a job. Just because a person needs psychiatric care doesn't mean they have no skills."

The centre isn't looking to have residents employed as rocket scientists or brain surgeons.

"They could do jobs stocking shelves or cleaning floors," Cuthbert says. "Everyone is unique in his or her own way. We just have to help them find their niche."

Regular work is often the best tonic.

"This is going to be a stepping stone to better things down the road," Cuthbert says of a person's stay here.

"But we need to get things going first."