The Douglas Research Centre

Guy Grenier, PhD, received his doctorate in history from Université de Montréal. In 1998, he defended his thesis on the history of forensic psychiatry in Quebec, which was published in 1999 under the title Les monstres, les fous et les autres [Monsters, crazy people and others “not like us”]. After receiving a post-doctoral grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, he finished his post-doctoral studies in criminology at the University of Ottawa on psychiatric assessments in criminal trials from 2000 to 2002.

In his role as historian, Guy Grenier wrote a history of the Association des médecins de langue française du Canada in 2002. He was the French-language editor for the Bulletin canadien d’histoire de la médecine/Canadian Bulletin of Medical History for many years. He also contributed to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and has written various articles on the history of psychiatry, medicine and health in Quebec. Finally, he helped organize activities celebrating the Douglas Institute's 125th anniversary in 2006.

A member of the research team on service organization and adequacy since 2002, Guy Grenier has contributed as a research associate, co-investigator and co-author on most research projects conducted by this group led by Marie-Josée Fleury. This research aims to improve access to health care and better align services with the needs of users, particularly in the fields of mental health, homelessness and dependency.

Projects of note in which he has collaborated include:

• The integration of mental health service networks
• The role of community organizations in mental health
• The use of mental health services
• Homelessness (At Home / Chez soi Project)
• The factors that determine the adequacy of assistance based on the needs of adults with severe mental health problems

Guy Grenier also worked on the Health and Welfare Commissioner's appraisal report of the performance of the mental health system, as he and Marie-Josée Fleury co-authored thesecond volume of this report released in November 2012, which specifically addressed mental health in Quebec and how health and social services respond to these needs.