The forensic program at CAMH provides comprehensive care and services for people with serious forms of mental illness who have come into contact with the law. The research division brings together scientists, stakeholders and multi-disciplinary partners from across Ontario to advance knowledge and inform practices across the mental health, justice and public safety sectors. Our team has cultivated local and international partnerships to promote excellence in research and healthcare delivery within the forensic mental health system.
Our research studies examine issues that impact forensic mental health service users, the clinicians involved in their care, and their family members and other care providers. These include projects focused on the assessment and management of violence risk, practices that advance patient recovery and resilience, mental health in correctional facilities, and the efficacy of treatments that promote reintegration into the community and reduce re-offending.
We aim to include patients as experts with lived and living experience at every research stage. We work to develop interventions that minimize the barriers and challenges faced by patients who are transitioning to the community, such as unstable housing and employment opportunities, a lack of professional, social or family supports, and increased stress or relapses of psychiatric symptoms. Our research aims to dispel stigma and identify those factors which promote patient recovery through the forensic mental health system towards achieving a safe, successful “life worth living.”
