As well as having earned a doctorate in social work from the Université Laval in 1997, Myra Piat has over 20 years of experience in social services in the public and community sectors, both as a practitioner and as an administrator.

The research of Myra Piat, PhD, focuses on two major areas:

• Housing for persons with serious mental illness
• Recovery from serious mental illness

Research in the area of housing includes studies on consumer housing preferences, client satisfaction, and the role of non-professional caregivers.  Current research on recovery includes studies of the meaning of recovery for different stakeholders across Canada, the role of housing in recovery and peer support.  She has also been instrumental in developing a partnership with the Yale University Program on Recovery and Community Health.  She is currently leading a Montréal-wide effort to implement a recovery training program for mental health providers. The Canadian Recovery Research Group broadcast sinformation around mental health recovery and on going research on recovery. Her priority is to develop research that is pertinent and ultimately will help improve services for this vulnerable population.

Myra Piat’s research program aims at furthering knowledge regarding:

• our understanding of recovery and how it is being implemented in services,  
• current and future housing for persons with psychiatric disabilities,  
• consumer’s point of view on services specifically around housing and employment,
• new and innovative peer support programs.