The Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill (Director-Kirmayer, Gill, Sigal) has been a center for research and training in cultural psychiatry since the 1950s. It coordinates a network of 25 researchers at McGill teaching hospitals, with two clinics specialized in intercultural work and three specialized research units.
In addition to clinical and research fellowships, the Division runs an Annual Summer Program in Social and Cultural Psychiatry, which emphasizes research training, along with an Advanced Summer Institute. Members of the Division consult and conduct research in Québec Aboriginal communities and for other indigenous groups internationally.
The Division offers a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in psychiatry and has close links with the Department of Social Studies of Medicine at McGill, which offers a M.A. and Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology in conjunction with the Department of Anthropology.
The CMHRU maintains a website, e-mail listserv, and library available to the Network as a whole. Participants can obtain information by telephone, fax, e-mail, or direct downloading from the website. Most importantly, the website is developed as a means of providing distance learning. We prepare modules on priority issues in Aboriginal mental health and on basic methodological strategies in cross-cultural mental health research. Other material to be made available through the website includes summaries on planned, ongoing and past research projects, research tools, resource people and relevant meetings.