On May 3rd, 2017, the Health Experiences research team with the support of St. Mary’s Research Centre hosted a St. Mary’s-McGill Café Scientifique as part of Canada’s Mental Health Week. The aim was to bring together innovative work from art and science to raise awareness of the issues faced by people living with mental illness in the community. This meeting was held at the Maison de la Culture in heart of Montreal’s Côte-des-neiges community. Presentations featured mental health scientist Rob Whitley from the Douglas Research Institute, dancers Jane Mappin and Daniel Firth, psychologist and film-maker Joel Montanez, and peer support worker Frances Skerritt; CBC journalist Loreen Pindera moderated the event.
Event report including the program is HERE.
A short film about the event has been produced by Christopher Wynn, and is available here:
St. Mary's Mental Health Event from Chris Wynn on Vimeo.
The event attracted 79 people, most of whom were community members. From the completed evaluations, about 80% of participants rated the event as ‘excellent’ and there were several ideas for topics at future cafés. Financial support for this event was provided by the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation.