Tim Tripp

Suki Lee’s research report analyzes the institutionalization of 86 non-English, non-American immigrant patients at the Asylum for the Insane, Toronto, between 1851 and 1900, identifying that the majority of these individuals came from Germany. The study reveals three primary trends: upper-class patients leveraged their wealth to secure better treatment than pauper patients, many individuals transitioned directly from the criminal justice system into the asylum, and patients relied on varying degrees of family financial support depending on whether they immigrated alone or with relatives. Ultimately, the research demonstrates how social class, institutional power, and cultural identity deeply intersected to shape the late-nineteenth-century immigrant asylum experience.

Danielle Landry’s research report highlights the history of consumer/survivor businesses—social enterprises run primarily by individuals with mental health histories—in southwestern Ontario between 1980 and 2005, detailing how small businesses like cafes, woodshops, and cleaning companies evolved into vital hubs for health advocacy and activism. Drawing on interviews with 42 participants, the study examines the emergence of these alternative businesses, their funding from the Ontario Ministry of Health, and their placement within local communities, including inside psychiatric hospitals like CAMH. Ultimately, the project uses a rich collection of previously undocumented personal materials—such as photographs, faxes, and business plans—to partner with Madness Canada in building a publicly accessible digital archive that preserves this local community organizing history.

Alex Myrick’s research report examines the transnational impact of psychiatric reform ideas developed by prominent Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Adolf Meyer (1866–1950), specifically focusing on how his network of trainees—termed the “Meyerian diaspora”—shaped twentieth-century Canadian psychiatry. Supported by the Hewton and Griffin Archival Research Award, Myrick’s archival work at CAMH and Johns Hopkins reveals that Meyer directly corresponded with approximately 60 Canadian medical professionals and organizations, heavily influencing institutional practices, hospital designs, and medical curricula from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. Ultimately, the study highlights how Meyer’s framework normalized psychiatry medically and culturally across Canada, showing that early correspondence between key figures like Clarence Hincks and Clifford Beers actually marked the birth of the international mental hygiene movement.

Our 2026 winners cover research into Canada’s Defence Research Board’s psychiatric research on Indigenous people, police assisted mental health response, and the social control of “morality” at the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital..

Our 2025 winners are researching the transition from lobotomy to early psychopharmaceuticals, mad art ecologies, writings from and about francophone women’s hospitalization in asylum, conversion therapy at CAMH, and the life and legacy of Mary Huestis Pengilly

Our 2024 award recipients are looking at Adolf Meyer’s ideas in Canadian psychiatry, psychiatric consumer/survivor businesses in Ontario, and geographical data related to confinement in Toronto’s Asylum for the Insane.