Myra Piat’s research program aims at furthering our knowledge on the development of best practices around mental health recovery, housing, homelessness for people with psychiatric disabilities and knowledge translation.

She is currently working on the following research projects:

1. For the past three years, she has co-led the Qualitative National Team of the At Home/Chez Soi project. This is a Canada-wide randomized controlled trial comparing the Housing First approach with treatments usually given to homeless individuals with mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
    
2. She is developing and evaluating a user-friendly tool kit on Housing First to facilitate knowledge transfer with Canadian and international stakeholders. 
    
3. She is developing and implementing a province-wide knowledge translation program on Eating Disorders for primary care service providers in local CSSSs.
    
4. She is participating in a knowledge translation project on mental health recovery and the development of a community of practice on recovery in Quebec and in Canada.
    
5. She is evaluating a community peer support program.
    
6. She is contributing to a Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) study on how social businesses influence the stigma of mental illness.
    
7. She is developing participatory research in Belize on the implementation of recovery-oriented and peer support services. 

Myra Piat, PhD, has been working with the Psychosocial Research Division of the Douglas Institute since 1997. Her work focuses on the interface between:

– mental health services (housing, peer support, recovery) 
– mental health policy 
– and the perspectives of the key stakeholders. 

Most recently she has been working on knowledge translation processes involving clinicians, community mental health service providers at local Community Health and Social Service Centres (CSSS).

As Assistant Professor at McGill Department of Psychiatry, she teaches a course on mental health services and policy. She also has a cross appointment in the McGill School of Social Work.

2008 Merit Grant, EJLB Foundation ($25,000).
2004 Awarded Best Abstract, European Network for Mental Health Service Evaluation Conference London, England.

Research Assistants:
Éloïse Bates
Alexis Pearson
Judith Sabetti
Eleni Sofouli
Jessica Spagnolo
Administrative Assistant:
Louise Bénard

Key publications

• PIAT, M., Wainwright, M.  Cherkas, D., Leblanc, S. et al.  Identifying and understanding the contextual factors that shaped mid-implementation outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic in organizations implementing mental health recovery innovations into services.  Implementation Science Communications (2021) 2:101 https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-021-00206-w  
• PIAT, M., Wainwright, M., Sofouli, E. et al. Factors influencing the implementation of mental health recovery into services: a systematic mixed studies review. Syst Rev 10, 134 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-021-01646-0
• PIAT M., Wainwright, M, Sofouli, E., Albert, H., Casey, R., Rivest, M-P, Briand, C., Kasdorf, S., Labonté, L., LeBlanc, L., & O’Rourke, J. (2020). The CFIR Card Game: A New Approach for Working with Implementation Teams to Identify Challenges and Strategies. Implementation Science Communications. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-020-00099-1
• PIAT, M., Wainwright M, Sofouli, E, Vachon B, Deslauriers T, Prefontaine C. (2020). Factors influencing the implementation of mental health recovery into services: A mixed studies systematic review.  Advances in Evidence Synthesis: Special Issue. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020;(9 Suppl 1, p.444). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD202001
• Thériault, J., Lord, M.M., Briand, C. PIAT, M. & Meddings, S. (2020). Recovery Colleges after a Decade of Research: A Literature Review, Psychiatric Services https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201900352
• Caplan, R., Nelson, G., Distasio, J., Isaak, C., Edel, B, PIAT, M., Macnaughton, E., Kirst, M., Patterson, M., Aubry, T., Mulligan, S. (2020).  “Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Parents Separated from their Children and Experiencing Homelessness and Mental Illness in Canada“. Journal of Community Psychology. 
• DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22455
•  PIAT, M., Seida, K. & Padgett, D. (2019). Choice and personal recovery for people with serious mental illness living in supported housing, Journal of Mental Health, DOI: 10.1080/09638237.2019.1581338 
•  PIAT, M., Spagnolo, J., Thibodeau-Gervais, S., Deschamps, C. & Gosselin, Y. (2019). Mental health recovery narratives: Their impact on service users and other stakeholder groups, Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 23(4), 173-184, DOI: 10.1108/MHSI-08-2019-0021
• Spagnolo, J., Champagne, F., Leduc, N., Melki, W., Bram, N., Guesmi, I., » Rivard, M., Bannour, S., Bouabid, L., Ben Hadj Hassine Ganzoui, S., Mhenni Mongi, B., Riahi, A., Saoud, Z., Zine, E. PIAT, M., Laporta, M., Charfi, F.(2019). A program to further integrate mental health into primary care: lessons learned from a pilot trial in Tunisia. Journal of Global Health Reports, Vol 3 (e2019022). DOI 10.29392/joghr.3.e2019022
• Spagnolo, J., Champagne, F. Leduc, N., Rivard,M., Melki, W., PIAT, M., Laporta, M., Bram, N., Guesmi, I., & Charfi, F. (2019). Building capacity in mental health care in low- and middle-income countries by training primary care physicians using the mhGAP: a randomized controlled trial. Health Policy and Planning. DOI 10.1093/heapol/czz138  
• PIAT, M., Sabetti, J., & Padgett, D. (2018). Supported housing for adults with psychiatric disabilities: How tenants confront the problem of loneliness. Health & Social Care in the Community, 26 (2):191-198. DOI: 10.1111/hsc.12508
• PIAT, M. & Seida, K. (2018). Supported housing for persons with serious mental illness and personal recovery: What do families think? International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 1-8, DOI: 10-1177/0020764018806928
• Spagnolo, J., Champagne, F., Leduc, N., Melki, W., PIAT, M. Laporta, M., Bram, N., Guesmi, I. & Charfi, F. (2018). “We find what we look for, and we look for what we know“: Factors interacting with mental health training program to influence its expected outcomes in Tunisia. BMC Public Health, 18 (1398). DOI 10.1186/s12889-018-6261-4
• Spagnolo, J., Champagne, F., Leduc, N., Rivard, M., PIAT, M., Laporta, M., Melki, W., & Charfi, F. (2018). Mental health knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy among general practitioners working in the Greater Tunis area of Tunisia. International Journal of Mental Health, 12 (63). DOI 10.1186/s13033-018-0243-x
• Spagnolo, J., Champagne, F., Leduc, N., Melki, W., Guesmi, I., Bram, N., PIAT, M., Laporta, M. & Charfi, F. (2018). Tailoring a training based on the mhGAP-IG to Tunisia: Process and relevant adaptations. Global Mental Health, 5, e17. DOI: 10.1017/gmh.2018.8
•  Thaler,L., Freiwald,S., Hodge, C., Fletcher, E., Cottier, D., Kahan, E., Rossie, E., PIAT, M., Lal, S., et al  (2018). A Tertiary-Care/Primary-Care Partnership Aimed at Improving Care for People with Eating Disorders. Community Mental Health Journal 54, 1154–1161 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-018-0290-4
• Spagnolo, J., Champagne, F. Leduc, N. PIAT, M., Guisset, A.-L., Melki, W., Charfi, F., Guesmi, I., Bram, N. & Laporta, M » (2017). Factors Affecting the Implementation of a Mental Health Training Program in Tunisia: Perspectives of Trainers and Tutors. Annals of Global Health, 83 (1), 144.
• PIAT, M., Sabetti, J., & Padgett, D. (2017). Emergent leadership among tenants with psychiatric disabilities living in supported housing. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. DOI:10.1111/inm.12428
• PIAT, M., Sofouli, E., Sabetti, J., Lambrou, A., Chodos, H., Briand, C., & Curran, J. (2017). Protocol for a mixed studies systematic review on the implementation of the recovery approach in adult mental health services. BMJ Open, 7(8), e017080. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017080
• Aubry, T., Ornelas, J., PIAT, M. & Bradshaw, C. (2014). Investigating the Implementation and Effectiveness of HF as Strategy to Ending Chronic Urban Homelessness in Canada and Portugal, International Colloquium « Intra-Urban Dynamics and Health », Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Paris, September 2013.
• Piat, M., Boyer, R., Fleury, M. J., Lesage, A., O’Connell, M., & Sabetti, J. (2015). Resident and proprietor perspectives on a recovery orientation in community-based housing. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 38(1), 88-95.
• PIAT M., Polvere, L., Kirst, M., Voronka, J., Zabkiewicz, D., Plante, M.-C., Isaak, C., Nolin , D., Nelson, G., Goering, G. (2014). Pathways into Homelessness: Understanding How Both Individual and Structural Factors Contribute to and Sustain Homelessness. Urban Studies, 1-17. http://usj.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/09/09/0042098014548138 doi:10.1177/0042098014548138.
• PIAT, M, & Polvere, L. (2014). Recovery-oriented Mental Health Policies: Implications for Transformative Change in Five Nations. In G. Nelson, Kloos, B., Ornelas, J. (Eds), Community Psychology and Community Mental Health: Towards Transformative Change (pp. 432). New York, NJ: Oxford University Press.
• PIAT, M. & Lal, S. (2012). Service Providers’ Experiences and Perspectives on Recovery-Oriented Mental Health System Reform. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 35(4) 289-296.
• PIAT, M., & Sabetti, J. (2012). Recovery in Canada: Toward Social Equality. International Review of Psychiatry, 24(1) 19-28.
• PIAT, M., Boyer, R., Cloutier, S., Fleury, M. J., & Lesage, A. (2012). Les conditions d’hébergement favorables au rétablissement : perspective des usagers et usagères. Revue canadienne de santé mentale communautaire, 31(1), 67-85.
• PIAT, M., Sabetti, J., Fleury, M. J., Boyer, R., & Lesage, A. (2011). “Who believes most in me and in my recovery”: the importance of families for persons with serious mental illness living in structured community housing. Journal of Social Work in Disability & Rehabilitation, 10(1), 49-65.
• PIAT, M., Sabetti, J., & Bloom, D. (2010). The transformation of mental health services to a recovery-orientated system of care: Canadian decision maker perspectives. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 56(2), 168-177.
• PIAT, M., & Sabetti, J. (2009). The development of a recovery-oriented mental health system in Canada: What the experience of Commonwealth countries tells us. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, 28 (2), 17-33.
• PIAT, M., Sabetti J., Couture, A., Provencher, H., Sylvestre, J. & Botschner, R, J. (2009). What does recovery mean for me? : Perspectives of Canadian mental health consumers. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 32 (3), 199-207.
• PIAT, M., Boyer, R., Lesage, A., Dorvil, H., Couture, A. & Bloom, D. (2008). Housing for persons with serious mental illness: Consumer and service provider preferences. Psychiatric Services, 59 (9), 1011-1017.
• PIAT, M., Lesage, A., Dorvil, H., Boyer, R., Couture, A. & Bloom, D. (2008). Les préférences résidentielles des personnes souffrant de troubles mentaux graves: une étude descriptive. Santé Mentale au Québec, 33 (2), 247-269.