Opening Minds Programs - Mental Health Commission of Canada

Alberta: Healthcare Providers
Opening Minds Programs | August 2011
Category Partners Name Description Status
Evaluation Occupational
Therapy
Department,
Faculty of
Rehabilitation
Medicine,
University of
Alberta,
Edmonton
Client-Educator
Programme
Over the course of eight weeks, first-year MScOT students in the
Occupational Therapy program meet with people with lived experience of
mental illness who are client-educators. The goal is for students to learn
about persistent mental illness and the myths associated with it. Also
includes a qualitative analysis on how people with lived experience who
contributed to program were impacted by the experience.
Evaluation
University of
Calgary, Calgary
The Mind Course
The Mind course is offered to all second-year medical students at the
University of Calgary; it includes contact with people who live with a mental
illness. Students learn how to diagnose, investigate, and manage clinical
presentations, such as substance abuse and addiction, suicidal behaviour,
panic and anxiety, psychoses, mood disorders, personality disorders, as well
as family violence. It includes people with lived experience of mental illness
in discussion with physicians. This course is 96 hours in length, highly
interactive, and has resulted in a high degree of interest in the psychiatry
specialization following completion of the MD program.
Data collected,
awaiting analysis;
qualitative research
analysis underway
with clienteducators.
Data collected;
analysis underway.
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