Gaston P. Harnois, MD, has been at the Douglas for nearly 40 years. This eminent psychiatrist was Director General of our institution for 17 years and saw it through many steps in its evolution. For example, he was responsible for establishing the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health and helped lay the foundation for what would become the Research Centre. Following his retirement, he took a generous and humour-filled look at the memories he will keep from his time at the Douglas.

Unorthodox beginnings

On April 5, 1971, Dr. Harnois walked through the doors of the Douglas for the first time. As Director General, the weight on his shoulders was quite substantial. After spending several years in Hull, where he had established the Centre hospitalier Pierre-Janet, he was contacted by the Douglas. “I thought that Ottawa was going to be my home for many years, but after barely six years, I received a call from John Birks, Chairman of the Douglas Corporation, who invited me to meet with three other Board members for dinner at the Queen Elizabeth,” explained Dr. Harnois.

At the time, the Douglas was renowned mainly because of the work of Dr. Heinz Lehmann. “I was a little nervous, because I went from a small regional hospital with 40 beds to an institution with 1000 beds,” he said. “My first morning on the job, Dr. Lehmann, decked out in a white lab coat, came knocking at my door to tell me he was at my service. As a young psychiatrist of 37 years, I was quite awestruck!” He had to quickly adapt to the culture at the Douglas, which was almost a hundred years old and stood out from other institutions in the health care network. At the time, all senior managers lived on the hospital grounds in houses that are still there today. A family atmosphere pervaded the institute. Although the Director General of the Douglas was required to live in the largest of these houses, Gaston Harnois preferred to do things differently and instead settled with his family off-site: a first!

A leader with an impressive track record!

As Dr. Lehmann's psychopharmacology work was well known in Geneva, Dr. Harnois was put into contact with the head office of the World Health Organization (WHO), which decided to name the Douglas a Collaborating Centre in 1982. A psychosocial component was added to the Centre's mandate very early on, which involved applied research to improve the everyday lives of patients with mental illness. To celebrate this good news, the Douglas organized a major international meeting lasting 20 days. “The project was a little crazy,” recalled Dr. Harnois. “No one would ever attempt something like that today!” The Douglas received 26 international delegates largely chosen by the WHO’s head office in Geneva. “All of these people were lodged and fed on site while they attended a symposium on the organization of psychiatric services around the world.” This large-scale event was a real marathon for its organizers, but it helped bolster the influence of the Douglas and was a brilliant way to mark its new collaboration with the WHO.

It was also during Dr. Harnois’ tenure that the Douglas underwent a change in philanthropic culture. After receiving a grant to reconstruct the geriatric care pavilion, the Douglas became the proud owner of a beautiful new building but had no money to furnish it. Dr. Harnois convinced Mr. William E. Stavert, the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the time (the Corporation), to find money from the community. Back then, psychiatric hospitals did not try to raise funds from the public sector, which often held the belief that psychiatry, as the treatment of “madness,” was the responsibility of the State. That taboo was broken during a campaign to raise $600,000. Thanks in large part to the energy and tenacity of Mr. Stavert, more than double that amount was raised.

Dr. Harnois then built upon this result to realize his next achievement. “As Director General, I came to understand that we could convince the Board of Directors to turn their future efforts to fundraising.” Thus, in 1982, the second capital campaign became much more ambitious: $6 million over 5 years. Again, the target was exceeded by nearly $2 million. “At the time, interest rates were very high, so we ultimately took in $12 million—a result that really made other health care institutions jealous!” This campaign would lead to the creation of the Douglas Research Centre, which remains the largest and most funded of its kind in Canada.

Toward a mental health policy

One day, Ms. Thérèse Lavoie-Roux, former Minister of Health, called Dr. Harnois to ask if he would be interested in chairing a committee to create a mental health policy in Quebec. He agreed, and the report (which bears his name) was published in 1989. This document has been the cornerstone of mental health policy in Quebec since that time. With the report in hand, Minister Lavoie-Roux decided to convene a commission on mental health. One hundred and twenty testimonies were submitted, and Dr. Harnois sat beside the Minister for an entire week while a large part of of civil society (unions, organizations, boards of trade, etc.) expressed their views on the issue. At the end of the week, the Minister decided to present the document as a policy on mental health. Both the commission and the media attention helped to finally push the issue of mental health into the public sphere.

Around this same time, Dr. Harnois began participating in the international psychosocial rehabilitation movement. The World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation (WAPR) was established to examine the post-psychiatric care process, or the time when patients return home to their normal lives. People began to realize that psychiatric treatment was not the be-all and end-all of mental health care; patients also need help navigating the road to health, and other specialists must be involved in this path. As the Douglas has been a part of this movement from the beginning, and because Dr. Harnois served as the second president of the WAPR, the institute has developed a tradition of providing community follow-up to those who are severely disabled by mental illness.

Changing course

In 1988, Gaston Harnois resigned as Director General after 17 years of loyal service. “I wouldn't recommend that anyone hold this kind of position for so long,” he said with a touch of humour. After stepping down, he decided to reorient his career to dedicate himself full-time to the WHO Collaborating Centre as well as to international issues and the development of psychosocial rehabilitation.

He is also interested in the issue of access to work for the mentally ill. On behalf of the WHO, he is studying mental health in the workplace, delving into questions of how employers can deal with the mental health problems of their employees. He believes that every modern company should develop a mental health policy for its staff. In 2007, again for the WHO, he produced the Atlas: World Resources for People with Intellectual Handicaps and was responsible for creating a profile of the mental health resources available around the world. Minister Couillard committed to supporting the project with $250,000, and the federal government matched this amount. This ambitious endeavour required a lot of time and the work of many collaborators. It still serves as the WHO reference on intellectual handicaps.

After the recent the earthquake in Haiti, the WHO asked Dr. Marc Laporta, who will take over at the helm of the Collaborating Centre, to visit the area and evaluate the impact of the disaster on the mental health of the local population. These important missions entrusted to the Douglas demonstrate the WHO’s high opinion of the Institute. “Our success comes from Douglas professionals who are interested in international issues and are willing to spend time on them.” This dedication also emphasizes the importance of the Collaborating Centre, whose role, Dr. Harnois hopes, will be even more important in the future.