Information Box Group
Mission
Excellence in clinical, educational and research activities to improve outcomes for people living with mental disorders through prevention, earlier detection and person and family-centred care across the lifespan.
Vision
Equity, innovation and partnerships are integral to everything we do.
Values
- Respect, inclusion, collegiality and diversity
- Advancing Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation
- Addressing stigma, ensuring equity and reducing disparities for equity-deserving groups
- Original thought, excellence, innovation and continuing improvement
- Transparency, accountability and integrity
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Person and family-centred care
Our priorities
To achieve our departmental mission, our strategic plan (doc) has identified five priorities for our academic activity during the next five years. These include:
Objectives
- Increase cultural safety awareness though training, including Indigenous cultural safety training and anti-Black racism, for everyone in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences (DPBN)
- Enact the recommendations of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that are relevant to work in DPBN and to the health of the wider Indigenous community
- Identify and respond to disparities in the provision of health care services to members of equity-deserving groups
- Review DPBN policies and procedures with attention to EDI-IR
- Review research and scholarship proposals, methodology and dissemination with attention to EDI-IR
- Implement changes to recruitment to increase diversity among staff, faculty and learners
- Support research and scholarship on EDI within DPBN
Goal
Increase cultural safety for those we care for clinically, their families, our staff and faculty and the communities we serve.
Objectives
- Maintain and strengthen the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences focus on this area
- Increase the climate literacy of all members of the department
- Introduce green and sustainable perspectives into the clinical care, research and education we deliver
- Raise awareness outside of the department about the impact of the climate crisis on the mental health of individuals and communities locally, nationally and globally, and advocate for needed changes
- Build alliances with local partners and provincial and national leaders
- Make changes in the way we operate as a department
Goal
To implement a plan to reduce our carbon footprint, adapt our practices and processes to make them more sustainable and environmentally friendly and to become national and international leaders in this area.
Objectives
- Create a mentorship structure of early- and mid-career faculty by senior faculty
- Increase the availability of faculty development tools and wellness activities specific to academic psychiatry and in coordination with our hospital partners
- Create a structure for psychiatry residents to work collaboratively with PhD students and psychology residents
- Establishment of a research and scholarship hub to share resources, ideas, writing and presentations for successful grant applications
- Create social activities tied to academic events to enhance collaboration and interaction
- Build communities of practice around mentorship or specific clinical, educational, research and scholarship interests (inter-departmental, interdisciplinary or between Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences clinicians and scientists)
- Broaden recognition activities for faculty accomplishments
Goal
Improved faculty retention, productivity and well-being.
Objectives
- Formulate and promote a cross-departmental initiative on neuromodulation in psychiatry
- Create a tri-institutional Brain Health Institute with McMaster University, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (SJHH) and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and the participation of current centres, including the Offord Centre for Child Studies, Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research (PBCAR), Clinical Centre for Neuroscience (CCN) and other interested researchers and clinicians
- Create an HHS-SJHH community-family-centred care hub with a “Bench to Practice” implementation pathway engaging clinicians, educators, researchers and communities while leveraging existing resources within child psychiatry and the Offord Centre
- Establish a wide-ranging online series of educational and training workshops that will also create a new revenue stream from the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences (DPBN)
- Establish a research and scholarship program to optimize education/teaching delivery and engagement in virtually-delivered training
- Develop clinical, educational and research applications of artificial intelligence in psychiatry.
Goal
Improved clinical care and education alongside increased collaborative research and scholarship activity that will increase the visibility of the DPBN and McMaster University and have significant and lasting impact on the communities we serve.
Objectives
- Continue the support of the existing research centres and programs within Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences (DPBN) (i.e., the Offord Centre for Child Studies, Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research and the Clinical Centre for Neuroscience), including them in future new directions for additional sources of revenue
- Find resources for existing postgraduate programs conferring master’s and doctoral degrees that the DBPN hosts or participates in (i.e., MSc psychotherapy, research and clinical training in psychology and MiNDS)
- Support emerging and existing research programs in trauma, women’s mental health, mood and anxiety disorders, forensic psychiatry, child and youth health and other areas in the department and hospitals
- Review of departmental practice plan structures
- Expand advancement and communication support on behalf of the department. E.g., part-time full-time equivalent (FTE) advancement and communications staff for DPBN)
Goal
Enhance the ongoing viability of established and new DPBN programs while ensuring the financial stability of DPBN.