Best Psychiatric Clinics Montreal Near Me

4worldlovers:
Staff of Psychiatry in front of the Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry building commemorating the ICFP's 50th anniversary, 2019.

Year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the JGH Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry (ICFP). The Institute houses the Department of Psychiatry outpatient clinics with a strong tradition of community outreach. The Institute is a center for psycho-social research and has a world-renowned team of scholars and clinicians in transcultural psychiatry. Additionally, it is a prominent teaching site for McGill psychiatry residents and interns from related specialties, as well as an important venue for conferences and workshops with local and international attendance.

The hospital’s psychiatric service began as a section of the Department of Neurology in 1946. In 1952, the Department of Psychiatry was established with Dr. Saul Albert as the Chief. In 1959 Dr. Albert was succeeded by Dr. Nathan Epstein. Dr. Epstein made his mark by pioneering a novel therapeutic approach to the psychiatric patient by including the family system, which created a base for more scientifically driven Couple and Family Therapy programs in Quebec and Canada. During his tenure, research was fundamental, as well as education in various therapies. To further enhance this academic base, Dr. Epstein helped to affiliate the Department to McGill University.

In 1966, with a generous donation of $750,000 complemented by a grant from the Federal Health Resources Fund, Dr. Epstein’s vision of building an institute to house the external clinics, research and education became feasible. The design of the building, with elongated, vertical windows and other features somewhat reminiscent of Japanese architectural style, was inspired by a trip in the mid 1960s by Dr. Ronald Feldman, then a resident, to Urbana, Illinois, USA. Dr. Feldman later became the founding director of the JGH Child Psychiatry Division.

In 1967, Dr. Henry Kravitz took over as the Chief of Psychiatry at JGH. He fulfilled Dr. Epstein’s vision and opened the Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry (ICFP) in 1969. The name ICFP reflects precisely “Family” and “Community”, the two key components of the philosophy of care held in Psychiatry at the JGH which is: “To view the patient not just as an individual, but as someone with a complex network of connections to family and community, against a backdrop of neighborhood, religion, race, ethnicity and a host of other factors.1”

The opening of the ICFP in 1969 was a milestone that anchored psychiatry at the JGH. Psychiatric services were available for every stage of the lifespan, from child to geriatric. Under the leadership of Dr. Kravitz, the department flourished, and ICFP specifically became a place of pioneering activities: the Couple and Family Therapy clinic with its unique Certificate Program for practicing therapists in the community, cultural consultation service and transcultural psychiatry research units that took root at the institute in the 1990s under Dr. Laurence Kirmayer and colleagues, and the child psychiatry that expanded its services under Dr. Ronald Feldman.

With its large amphitheatre and state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment, the Institute has been an important venue for clinical rounds, workshops, and conferences with international participation.

Ca. 1966: A Family Therapy Training Program opens at JGH, based on research pioneered by Dr. Nathan Epstein.

1971: A Day Centre opens at ICFP for patients needing more intense treatments, whether after discharge from the ward or to prevent hospitalization. Occupational therapy and psychological services are focal areas.

1973: Opening of the Department’s Sexual Dysfunction Treatment Centre, Behavioral Psychotherapy Clinic, Adult External Services, and the Youth Service.

1977: AMI-Quebec, a non-profit organization that helps families manage the effects of mental illness, begins its multi-decade relationship with the ICFP by holding its first meeting in the ICFP amphitheatre.

Early 1990s: Creation of the Culture and Mental Health Research Unit at ICFP.

1991: The Couple and Family Therapy Training Program is granted accreditation as a post-graduate training program by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

1995: Health psychology and behavioral medicine clinical services are introduced and collaborations are reinforced with Oncology and the Neonatology follow-up clinic. Research focusing on psychosocial aspects of mental health and medical illness continues to be successful and more members of the research team are promoted to the rank of full professor at McGill University.2

Early 2000s: Creation of a Cultural Consultation Service (CCS) at ICFP.

2010: Opening of the Ruth and Saul Kaplan Pavilion on Côte Sainte-Catherine Road, unifying all child psychiatry services under the umbrella of the JGH Centre for Child Development and Mental Health.

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