Creating knowledge, caring for minds
Introduction
The Department of Psychiatry is a world leader in mental illness research and teaching. In the next five years, we commit to improving student learning across all of our sites. We will strive to promote mental health and help members of the public to better understand mental illness. Educational opportunities will be provided to Aboriginal students. Meaningful opportunities for engagement will be provided to our alumni.
We want to ensure that we benefit from our strength in diversity. Internationally, we have many partners through our research projects and students and we will continue to build these partnerships. By providing professional development opportunities we continue to be an outstanding place to work for faculty and staff. Financially, we will remain sustainable now and in the years to come by aligning our resources with this Strategic Plan.
Vision
As part of one of the world’s leading universities, the Department of Psychiatry at The University of British Columbia supports outstanding research and engages local, national and global communities. We create an exceptional learning environment, advance mental health and promote sustainable care for mental illness and addictions.
Student Learning
The Department of Psychiatry provides quality medical education in psychiatry for undergraduate students, residents and fellows. Education will be enhanced through the use of technology. Through annually updating our curricula and providing faculty with continuing professional development opportunities, we ensure better learning for our students. After hearing students’ needs, we will work with the University and professional organizations to enhance students’ well-being and plan to communicate better with students.
Goals
1. Enhance the quality and impact of teaching for all students
Action
- Annually update the undergraduate and postgraduate curricula to ensure students and residents are well prepared for careers in medicine and psychiatry.
- Improve access to lectures and educational content through the use of technology, including online materials and webinars.
2. Enrich students’ educational experience
Action
- Develop and enhance research opportunities for all students, particularly residents and fellows.
- Support student led initiatives in education, research and clinical care.
- Ensure regular assessment of undergraduate and postgraduate experiences and solicit feedback.
- Provide faculty with professional development opportunities to ensure better education for students.
3. Support student well-being, personal development and positive affiliation with the Department
Action
- Partner with the University and professional organizations to support and enhance students’ well-being.
- Review communications to students, residents and fellows and address needs in the Department communications strategy.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Student Learning
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Student Learning commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
The Department is home to world class research in psychiatry. We are committed to established areas of excellence, as well as developing areas. To further our research excellence, we will increase funding, improve infrastructure, recruit top ranked students and increase impact through communications. We will work to make our knowledge applicable to clinical practice, build partnerships to enhance the role of research in clinical care, and bridge the gaps between basic and clinical research, and between research and application.
Goals
1. Increase the quality and impact of the Department’s research and scholarship
Action
- Focus efforts on existing and developing areas of excellence.
- Increase Department research and graduate support funding in both absolute and relative terms, including support from non-traditional sources.
- Improve infrastructure to support leading edge research, including areas of greatest need.
- Expand recruitment of top ranked undergraduate and postgraduate students and fellows.
- Increase impact of research by addressing research communications in the Department communications strategy.
2. Be a world leader in psychiatric knowledge exchange and mobilization
Action
- Translate the excellent research being conducted in the Department to broad application in clinical practice.
- Foster partnership appointments with Health Authorities in British Columbia to enhance the role of research in excellent clinical care.
- Bridge the gaps between basic and clinical research, and between research and application to the needs of patients, families and society through professional development and public education.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Research Excellence
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Research Excellence commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
The distributed model is unique to the Department and the Faculty of Medicine. Distributed sites for learning and research will remain a focus of the Department. We want to ensure high quality of teaching and increase commitment to research at distributed sites.We will improve infrastructure and increase the impact of education and research on clinical care.We aim to promote our expertise in distributed and distance learning and research on the global stage.
Goals
1. Ensure high quality of teaching at distributed sites
Action
- Increase commitment to distributed undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
2. Increase commitment to research at distributed sites
Action
- Improve infrastructure to support leading edge research at distributed sites.
- Increase the impact of education and research on clinical care at distributed sites.
3. Leverage Department’s expertise in the distributed model
Action
- Promote distributed and distance learning and research excellence on the global stage.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Distributed Sites for Learning and Research
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Distributed Sites for Learning and Research commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements
The Department is dedicated to helping the public understand mental illness and promoting mental health. We strive to be a leader that engages the wider community. Engaging patients and families through partnerships in research will be a key focus of our efforts. We will also facilitate dialogue on mental health and work to eliminate stigma. We will work towards achieving sustainable mental health locally and globally.
Goals
1. Dedicate Department resources to public understanding of mental illness and promotion of mental health
Action
- Develop and strengthen partnerships for research and for developing evidence-based policy to address mental health and addictions.
- Facilitate public dialogue on issues of mental health and actively invite community participation.
- Maintain awareness and work to eliminate the pervasive effects of stigma as a barrier to care for mental illness.
2. Be a leader in fostering student, faculty, staff and alumni engagement within the wider community
Action
- Actively promote partnerships with patients and families at all stages of the education curricula and research.
- Ensure community engagement is recognized in faculty training and assessment.
- Work with community based organizations to create a deeper understanding of how sustainable mental health can be achieved locally and globally.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Community Engagement
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Community Engagement commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
The Department is committed to providing educational opportunities for Aboriginal people and provide our students with education on Aboriginal perspectives and practices. We will expand our curricula and engage Aboriginal medical undergraduates in Psychiatry. Mental health dialogue will be initiated with Aboriginal communities and the broader public to help build supportive and productive relationships.
Goals
1. Expand educational opportunities for Aboriginal people and widen opportunities for all students to learn about Aboriginal perspectives and practices related to mental health
Action
- Strengthen programs of academic and social support for Aboriginal students.
- Expand curricula offerings to include understanding Aboriginal perspectives and practices related to mental health.
- Increase Aboriginal medical undergraduate students’ interest in psychiatry as a career.
2. Increase engagement with Aboriginal communities in mutually supportive and productive relationships
Action
- Create venues for mental health dialogue with Aboriginal communities and the broader public.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Aboriginal Engagement
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Aboriginal Engagement commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
The Department teaches many undergraduate students, residents and fellows. We hope to create a deeper, ongoing connection with alumni and will start by calling upon them to become mentors for our current students when they reach key stages in their development. We will increase awareness and use continuing professional development opportunities to engage alumni in Canada and beyond.
Goals
1. Enrich the lives of graduates through a deeper connection to the Department
Action
- Engage graduates as mentors for current students at stages of educational and career transition.
- Address alumni engagement needs as part of a Department communications strategy.
2. Foster lifelong alumni engagement through expansion of continuing professional development
Action
- Expand Department wide efforts to engage alumni in Canada and internationally.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Alumni Engagement
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Alumni Engagement commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
As we work in a diverse Department, we realize that it is important to promote further intercultural understanding, remove barriers to greater cultural and intellectual diversity and increase diversity. By achieving these goals, our faculty, students and staff will function even more effectively and gain new learning opportunities.
Goal
1. Promote intercultural understanding
Action
- Promote effective intercultural professional development for faculty and staff.
2. Remove barriers to greater cultural and intellectual diversity within the Department
Action
- Enhance and respect diversity among students, faculty and staff.
3. Increase diversity
Action
- Increase diversity of trainees in our programs and maintain diversity of clinical training opportunities.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Intercultural Understanding
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Intercultural Understanding commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
The Department has numerous international connections through our students and faculty research collaborations. Our distributed and distance learning expertise can be leveraged on the global stage.
To increase our international engagement, we will continue to focus on UBC’s international priorities. We will increase substantial international strategic partnerships and discuss global issues that are related to psychiatry and mental health.
Goals
1. Broaden the opportunities for Department students, faculty, staff and alumni to engage internationally
Action
- Improve access and participation of international students in the Department.
- Increase support for international collaborations by faculty, staff and alumni.
2. Strengthen the Department’s global influence
Action
- Increase the number of substantial strategic partnerships in regions of priority.
- Enhance scholarly communications on global issues in relation to psychiatry and mental health.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - International Engagement
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's International Engagement commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
The Department is one of the largest in the Faculty of Medicine and is home to over 700 faculty and staff. We want to ensure that faculty and staff have professional development opportunities so that they may help fulfil the Department’s Strategic Plan. We also strive to be a healthy and respectful workplace.
Goals
1. Be the workplace of choice for outstanding faculty and staff
Action
- Ensure processes and supports are in place to recruit first choice applicants.
- Provide faculty and staff with the means and professional development opportunities to fulfil the Department’s vision, values and commitments.
2. Be a healthy, inspiring workplace that cultivates well-being, resilience and commitment, and be responsive to the family needs of faculty and staff
Action
- Create a respectful, inclusive and collegial work environment.
- Increase support for healthy workplace initiatives.
- Ensure that academic and administrative heads and directors have the training, time and support they require to be effective.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Outstanding Work Environment
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Outstanding Work Environment commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
To ensure that the Department will be able to continue fulfilling our Strategic Plan, we must ensure that we are financially sustainable now and in the years to come. To do so, resources will be aligned with the Department’s Strategic Plan and we will provide a balanced budget annually.
Goals
1. Ensure Department’s economic sustainability
Action
- Align resources with the Department’s vision and Strategic Plan.
- Implement a budgeting framework that allocates resources based on strategic goals, including enrolment.
- Deliver a balanced budget annually.
- Provide a solid financial foundation for long-term success through asset management.
Engage with the Strategic Plan - Sustainability
We would like to invite Department Members to engage with the Department Strategic Plan's Sustainability commitment by sharing work projects or plans, new publications, awards, honours, media interviews, and other notable achievements.
Downloadable version of the Strategic Plan