The Psychotic Disorders Program at the Douglas Institute provides services to adults aged 18 to 65 with schizophrenia or other forms of psychoses.

The Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses (PEPP-Montréal) is designed for young people aged 14 to 30.

Services provided

  • Psychosis Hospitalization Unit: A 30-bed unit for people with psychotic disorders who require short-term hospitalization. 
  • Intensive Rehabilitation Program: Hospitalization and transition services for people suffering from prolonged, complex and treatment-resistant psychotic disorders.
  • Outpatient services: composed of the Out-patient Clinic (OPD), the Intensive Community Rehabilitation team, and the ACT team.
  • Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses (PEPP-Montréal): Treatment for youth from 14 to 30 dealing with an untreated first psychotic episode.

Access to services

People who want to receive care have to go to the "accueil psychosocial” (entry point) at their CLSC or consult their general practitioners. In the case of a crisis or emergency they may go to the emergency or a community crisis centre.

Each person is assessed and then directed to a service adapted to his or her needs. The person may:

  • Receive general 1st-line services (from a CLSC or general practitioner)
  • Receive services from the team of 1st-line mental health professionals at a Centre de santé et des services sociaux (CSSS)
  • Access more specialized services, such as those provided at the Douglas Institute.

PEPP-Montréal has specific admission criteria.

Integrating research into care

Research at PEPP-Montreal aims at furthering our understanding of the nature of psychotic disorders, the impact of such disorders on patients and their families, and the development and evaluation of new approaches to treatment and prevention.

One of these research projects done in 2007 by Anne Crocker, PhD, aimed to evaluate the implementation of the START (Short-Term Assessment and Risk of Treatability) tool to measure and manage disruptive behaviour. The project has now been expanded to all services in the Psychotic Disorders Program.