The clinical observership program is back!

Clinical Observership Program 2023 at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute


The clinical observership program is back! After a hiatus of 3 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can offer it again in 2023. This is a program designed to acquaint research students with clinical practice, to witness psychiatric pathology and how it is treated. This involves one half day observerships, each week, for 4 consecutive weeks in the same setting. For this restart of the program, which will take place over Winter/Spring 2023, each student can participate to one observership. The possible observerships are described on the next page.

To be eligible to participate in this program, candidates have to be currently registered in a graduate-level program (i.e., Master’s, Doctoral) or be a postdoctoral fellow, and to be presently conducting research under the supervision of a principal investigator of the Douglas Research Centre. Research assistants, research associates and undergraduate students are not eligible.

Please fill in the application form (last two pages of this document) indicating your observership preferences and which months you will be available to participate. We will try to accommodate as many trainees as possible. Since places are limited, if there are too many applications, we will select on a first come first served basis, and based on availabilities of the applicants.

It is essential that your supervisor approves your attendance to the program. Applications without your supervisor’s signature will not be considered.

The deadline for application is January 19, 2023.


Possible observerships

  1. Adult Psychosis, Outpatient: One of two outpatient clinics where patients with a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis are followed. There are regular meetings with patients and their doctor, case manager or other members of the team.
  2. Psychogeriatric, Outpatient: Clinic for geriatric patients with a variety of psychiatric conditions.
  3. Memory Clinic: Outpatient clinic for the assessment and treatment of patients with dementia or other serious cognitive impairments.
  4. Adult General Psychiatry Clinic: Outpatient clinic for patients with comorbid psychiatric disorders, personality disorders or impulsivity that are complicated or difficult to treat. Patients meet with psychiatrists and case managers on a regular basis.
  5. First Episode Psychosis: An inpatient and/or outpatient experience.  Patients treated here are between 14 – 35 years of age, are experiencing a first psychotic episode and have never received treatment in the past.
  6. Anxiety Disorders Clinic: Outpatient clinic for patients with anxiety related disorders.
  7. Youth Depressive Disorder Clinic: Clinic for the assessment of and treatment of Adolescents and young adults with mood disorders.
  8. Youth Bipolar Disorders Clinic: Clinic for the assessment of and treatment of Adolescents and young adults with Bipolar spectrum disorders.
  9. Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic: Clinic for the assessment of and treatment of Children and adolescents with a wide range of psychiatric disorders.
  10. Adolescent Outpatient Clinic: Clinic for the assessment of and treatment of adolescents with a wide range of psychiatric disorders.
  11. Intensive Care Unit: Short stay inpatient unit for adult patients within the highly acute phase of illness. The patients are often admitted here for high levels of agitation or instability that would make it difficult to be admitted to other units in the hospital.
  12. Module Intervention Rapide (MIR): Outpatient Emergency Room follow up service for people in psychiatric crisis who need rapid follow up.
  13. Relance Clinic: Outpatient Emergency Room follow up service for people in psychiatric crisis who need rapid follow up but who live in the catchment area of another hospital or who can be managed with a very short follow up and return to follow up with their family doctor,
  14. Adolescent Inpatient Unit: Inpatient short stay unit for adolescents with a wide array of psychiatric illness.
  15. Module Évaluation Liaison (MEL): This outpatient service offers one time consultations to family doctors.

Application form