Judith Cook

cook -at- ripco.com

Judith is a Co-Leader for the Centre’s research team for Mental Health Reform and Policy.

She is currently a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

She directs the Centre on Mental Health Services Research and Policy (CMHSRP), which houses a federally funded center on self-determination and recovery, and a number of research and evaluation projects addressing severe mental illness.

The UIC National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability is funded for five years to conduct research and training on evidence-based practice, consumer-directed services, and alternative financing mechanisms for mental health care.

Judith also directed the Coordinating Center for the Employment Intervention Demonstration Program, a federal multi-site, clinical trial of supported employment services for people with major mental disorders.

Judith’s published research includes over 150 books, edited volumes, and peer-reviewed journal articles in areas such as rehabilitation, recovery and self-determination; mental illness among youth; post-secondary education for people with psychiatric disabilities; gender issues in mental illness; and coping strategies of parents of mentally ill offspring.

She served as expert consultant to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, and as an advisory committee member and reviewer of the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health.

Judith has consulted with the British Columbia Ministry of Health, and with numerous federal agencies and administrations in the U.S. including the White House, the Office of the Surgeon General, the Department of Labor, the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Veteran’s Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and the Social Security Administration.

With staff at the MHSRP, Judith has created a series of training manuals and curricula in areas such as: reduction of seclusion and restraint in inpatient settings, community safety for women with mental illness, hiring consumers as direct service providers, job coaching in psychiatric rehabilitation, assertive case management for homeless persons, vocational transitioning for youth with severe emotional disorders, and outreach to minority families of persons with mental illness.