Profiles
Dr. J. Palacios-Boix, MD, FRCP (C)
Medical Director
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Dr. J. Palacios-Boix is a Medical Doctor who trained in Psychiatry at McGill and Dalhousie University, later specializing in Addictions Psychiatry, Group Psychotherapy and Mood Disorders. He obtained further training at the Canadian Institute of Psychoanalysis, where he is currently on the Faculty. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University. His teaching is focused on Addictions, Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. His position at the Addictions Unit has been as Medical Director since 1996.
Gail Gauthier, PhD
Clinical Director
Dr. Gauthier is a clinical psychologist, member of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec and Clinical Director of the MUHC Addictions Unit. She has a Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology from McGill University. Following her Master’s degree, she completed an internship in cognitive behavioural therapy supervised by Dr. Michael Spevack at the Montreal General Hospital Behaviour Therapy Service, where she specialized in the treatment of anxiety and eating disorders. She obtained her Ph.D. in Psychiatry, at McGill University in 2005. Dr. Gauthier has conducted research examining outcomes of therapy for addiction, including factors associated with treatment retention, and treatment comparisons of brief intervention and standard therapy. Her current clinical work is individual and group therapy with clients with substance use and mental health disorders, and her therapeutic expertise is in cognitive behavioural, psychoeducational, and humanistic approaches.
Kathryn Gill, PhD
Research Director
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Dr. Kathryn Gill is the Director of Research at the Addictions Unit of the McGill University Hospital Centre (MUHC), and an Associate Professor and member of the Division of Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University. She obtained her Ph.D (1990) in psychology, and conducted post-doctoral studies at the Alcohol Research Centre, and the Addiction Research and Treatment Services of the University of Colorado. She divides her time between working at the Addictions Unit treating patients with drug- and alcohol dependence using a combination of group and individual CBT-oriented psychotherapy, teaching at McGill University and conducting research at the Addictions Unit and the Research Institute of the MUHC.
Dr Gill's clinical research program is focused on mental illness, substance dependence and gambling with ongoing projects related to help-seeking and barriers to treatment for urban Aboriginals, gambling practices and addiction among the Cree peoples of James Bay, as well as clinical and biological predictors of treatment outcome at the Addictions Unit. Her basic research program is focused on examining biological and genetic factors that contribute to the development of addiction.
INPATIENT SERVICES
Ronald Fraser, MD, FRCP (C)
Head, Inpatient Detoxification Service
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Ronald Fraser graduated from Dalhousie Medical School as valedictorian in 1995. After his residency training in psychiatry at McGill University, he completed a fellowship in Addictions Psychiatry in 2001, studying heroin dependence and detoxification techniques. After a period working in rural Nova Scotia, he returned to McGill in 2003 as an assistant professor to head their inpatient detoxification service. In 2004, he was mandated to create and direct a long term treatment program for clients with Borderline Personality Disorder at the McGill University Health Centre. In 2008, he accepted a part-time position as assistant professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, (NS) to help develop an addictions training program. He is currently the Residency Training Director at the MUHC for psychiatry, and has won several awards for both his undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
Dara Charney, MD, FRCPC
Director, McGill RUIS Addiction Program
Associate Chair (Education), Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Dr. Dara Charney graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard University in 1987. She obtained her MD from McGill University in 1991, and remained at McGill during her Psychiatry Residency and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. She joined the Department of Psychiatry in 1997 as an Assistant Professor, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005. She was the Program Director for McGill Psychiatry Postgraduate Education from 2002 to 2010. She has held the positions of Director of the McGill RUIS Addiction Program since 2008, and Associate Chair (Education) of the McGill Department of Psychiatry since 2009. On a national level, she has served as an examiner for the Royal College Examination Board in Psychiatry, and as the chair of COPE (Coordinators of Postgraduate Education). Dr. Charney's clinical and research work is conducted at the Addictions Unit of the MUHC. She has initiated a number of clinical trials and prospective treatment outcome studies with substance use disorder clients, with a particular emphasis on "dual disorder" clients. She has received research funding from the MUHC Research Institute, FRSQ and CIHR, as well as salary awards from both the MUHC Research Institute and FRSQ.
Juan C. Negrete, MD, Dip. Psych., CSPQ, FRCP (C)
Senior Consultant Addictions Unit
Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University
Juan C. Negrete received his medical degree from the University of Tucuman (Argentina) in 1961. Following this, he came to McGill University where he completed his Psychiatric training between 1963 and 1967. He became a certified specialist in Psychiatry by the Quebec College of Physicians in 1966 and then a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1988.
Dr. Negrete became a tenured Professor of Medicine (Psychiatry) in 1985 and Professor Emeritus in 2009, at McGill University. He was also a full Professor of Psychiatry, at the University of Toronto between 1995 and 2000 and the first Head of the Addiction Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.
Dr Negrete founded the Addictions Unit of the McGill University Health Centre/Montreal General Hospital in 1980 and was the Director of the Unit until 1995. He is currently a Senior Consultant at the Addictions Unit. He also founded the Concurrent Disorders Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto and became its first medical director between 1996 and 2000.
Dr Negrete has also held the following positions and memberships:
- Former Director Area IX (Canada and International), American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
- Former Chair, Addictions Section, Canadian Psychiatric Association
- Former President, Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine
- Former Consultant in Mental Health, Alcoholism and other Drug Dependences, Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization
- Member, International Editorial Board: Addiction (London), Jornal Brasileiro de Dependencias Quimicas (Rio de Janeiro), Psiquiatria Publica (Madrid), PSIQUIS (Madrid), ERADICCIONES (Argentina)
- Member, Société des experts en évaluation médico-légale du Québec
TEAM THERAPISTS
After graduating as a nurse, Christianne Beaulieu started working at the Jewish General Hospital’s Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry. There she worked at the Methadone Clinic, one of the first hospital-based, outpatient addiction services. She also worked on the crisis team and the day program.
She then moved to the Outpatient Department of Psychiatry at the Montreal General Hospital, where she was part of various treatment teams, including the Adolescent Unit, the Crisis Unit and the Continuing Care service (which works with people who have severe and persistent mental illness).
After obtaining a Social Work degree from McGill University, she worked for two years in Youth Protection at Batshaw Youth and Family Centres. She evaluated reports of children reported to be at risk, and took appropriate measures to ensure the child’s security and development.
Since 1996, she has worked full time at the Addictions Unit of the Montreal General Hospital. Here, she assesses people who have been referred to the Unit, providing follow-up support during the first phase of treatment, and facilitating groups in the second phase, including the women’s group.
Zachary Boychuck, erg., BA, MSc
Zachary completed a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, both at McGill University.
Since joining the MUHC in 2010, he has worked across the Department of Psychiatry. At the Allen Memorial Institute this has included the Inpatient Wards and Day Hospital. At the Montreal General Hospital this has included the Transitional Day Program (TDP), the Intensive Psychiatric Intervention team (IPI), the Inpatient Wards, and the Addictions Unit.
As a staff occupational therapist at the Addictions Unit, Zachary conducts initial assessments and is involved in treatment planning for new referrals, as well as functioning as both a primary care/individual and group therapist.
In addition to his clinical work, Zachary supervises occupational therapy students from McGill University, and serves as the OT Clinical Education Coordinator in Psychiatry. He is also a part-time instructor in the graduate-level psychosocial occupational therapy curriculum of the School of Physical & Occupational Therapy at McGill.
Professional Associations: Ordres des ergothérapeutes de Québec (O.E.Q.)
Roberta Osler-Payette, BSc, OT
Roberta Osler-Payette graduated from McGill University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. From 1979-1981, she worked as a staff Occupational Therapist in Psychiatry at the Montreal General Hospital’s Rehabilitation Day Centre. Following this, she worked in inpatient psychiatry at the Montreal General Hospital from 1981-1984.
Roberta Osler-Payette has worked as an Occupational Therapist at the McGill University Health Centre Addictions Unit since 1984, in various roles. Presently she works as a primary care therapist and leads several dual diagnosis groups.
In addition to her clinical work, she supervises students from McGill University in Occupational Therapy throughout the academic year.
Roberta Osler-Payette maintains professional status with both the Ordre des Ergothérapeutes du Québec and the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists
Antonis Paraherakis, MSc
Addictions and Mental Health Program Coordinator and Psychoeducator
Antonis Paraherakis received his BA in Psychology from Concordia University in 1995 and an MSc in Psychiatry from McGill University in 1997. He has been a staff therapist at the Addictions Unit of the Montreal General Hospital since 1997. He carries out client assessments, short-term individual counselling, brief interventions, relapse prevention and family/significant other counselling sessions.
He has also been the clinical research coordinator for various research projects carried out in the Addictions Unit between 1995 and 2000. He also contributed to the development of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Service at the Montreal Children’s Hospital where he worked as a clinical research coordinator and a counsellor from 1999 to 2003. Research Interests include brief interventions, knowledge transfer and assimilation in substance abuse treatment, treatment outcomes
Paula Randolph, BSc OT, ICADC
Paula Randolph graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy in 1977. She has been working since 1977 at the Montreal General Hospital, in the Department of Psychiatry.
She worked from 1977-1979 on an inpatient psychiatric ward. From 1979-1985 she worked in the long-term treatment of chronic psychiatric clients at the Rehabilitation Day Center. From 1985 to the present, she has been working as a staff occupational therapist at the MUHC Addictions Unit. At the Addictions Unit she works both as a primary care and group therapist.
In addition, she presently works in the STS (Schizophrenia Tertiary Service) at the MUHC with both chronic psychiatric and dual diagnosis clients.
In addition to her clinical work, she supervises occupational therapy students from McGill University.
Professional Associations:
- Ordres des ergothérapeutes de Quebec (O.E.Q.)
- National board for certification in occupational therapy (N.B.C.O.T) (Licensed to work as an occupational therapist in the U.S.A.)
- Canadian Addiction Counselors Certification Federation (C.A.C.C.F.)
Sue Tremblay, RN, BSN (in progress)
Sue has been a member of the Order of Nurses of Quebec since 1993. She began working on the in-patient psychiatric unit at the Montreal General Hospital a year later. In 1996, she trained to become an instructor in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention techniques; over the next 10 years, she taught MUHC employees how to use active and empathic listening skills to de-escalate potentially dangerous situations.
From 1999 to 2001, Sue was part of the Omega Cohort research team (Montreal), which used psychosocial determinants to track HIV transmission rates among gay-identified men.
She also worked on the Cardiac Intensive Care unit at the MGH for 2 years, after which she was given the opportunity to join the psychiatric Consult Liaison team. In 2006, she was presented with the MGH Award of Excellence for clinical work as an individual nurse. In 2007, she replaced the founding nurse of the McGill University Sexual Identity Centre, groups on demystifying homosexuality using a cognitive behaviour therapy approach. As well, she has co-facilitated interpersonal psychodynamic group therapy sessions
Sue’s current clinical focus is employing cognitive behaviour therapy techniques in individual and group settings for addiction clientele. She facilitates a discussion group in the Day Program and a group for participants in their second phase of sober living.
VOLUNTEER
Susan Britton, RN - Psychotherapist - Yoga teacher
Susan Britton worked at The Griffith Edwards as a replacement therapist from 2000-2002. She previously had a long nursing career in Palliative Care at the Royal Victoria Hospital. When she had some time to orientate herself to this new work, she realized that there were many overlapping issues (ie. grief, loss, and family dynamics). In 2003 she decided to become a yoga teacher and after a 200 hour intensive training and being aware of the positive aspects of yoga and recovery, she applied to teach yoga to the clients of the Day Program. The techniques she uses are warm-ups, postures, relaxation, breathing techniques and meditation. After stopping the use of a substance, one becomes aware of their emotions, their bodies and their busy minds. This is where she believes that yoga can be very beneficial in giving the clients some tools to replace their substance use and to be able to sooth their nervous system.
Since 2003, she has added 300 more hours of yoga teacher training and will continue to keep pursuing more education.