WHO WE ARE

Canada-Russia Mental Health Team planning meeting in Stavropol, October 2004 (left to right):
Yanina Storozhakova (MRIP), Alexander Shmukler (MRIP), Svetlana Shklarov ( U of C), Olga Stepanova (Omsk Regional Psychiatric Hospital), Maria Magomedova (MRIP), Isaac Gurovich (MRIP), Aldred Neufeldt ( U of C), Ludmila Salnikova (MRIP), Pavel Sitchihin (Training participant, Krasnodar)

Since 1997, the Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies (CRDS), University of Calgary, and Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry (MRIP), have jointly undertaken a series of projects in response to the Russian mental health system's need for development of community-based programs appropriate to Russia's diverse regional contexts. The first two were funded through the University of Calgary Gorbachev Foundation. The first, named "Community Mental Health Rehabilitation" started in October 1997 and was successfully completed by October 1999. The second, "Russia Mental Health System Reform", built on the first one, and ran from April 2000 to June 2002. The partnership introduced the concepts and best practices of community mental health rehabilitation through professional training and developing regional pilot projects, and facilitated development of parent and consumer support organizations.

The most recent initiative builds on the success of two previous projects, and is funded by CIDA, as part of the Canada-Russia Disability Program. This is a four-year cross-disability program run in partnership with the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies and the University of Manitoba, where the University of Calgary is leading the mental health component. This initiative is aimed at building capacity within Russia's mental health system in Central and South Russia, and Siberia regions. The central element of the CRDS component is to assist Russia’s mental health system in establishing community based services, and to strengthen organizations for people with psychiatric impairments and their families. Particular focus in South Russia is to build mental health system capacity to address the needs of people who have experienced deep trauma associated with war and other forms of violent loss.