ABOUT US

Who we are

We are a team of Clinician/Researchers. As licensed psychologists, we are registered members of the Ordre des Psychologues du Québec; as researchers we are actively involved in federally and provincially funded research.

Our clinical service was founded in the mid 1970's, at the Institute of Community & Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. With the change to its current name - Behavioural Psychotherapy and Research Unit - there are now two defined clinical and research arms, with clinical and research activities carried out under the co-direction of Dr. William Brender and Dr. Eva Libman.

Research interests

Each aspect - clinical and research - reciprocally informs the other. In the late 1980's, our then research focus on aging alerted us to the high prevalence of sleep disorder in older individuals and sensitized us to investigate sleep quality in our clinical practice. Since 1990, our research interest and clinical expertise developed, broadened and evolved in tandem. For example, many of the instruments we designed to gather data for our studies of sleepiness and fatigue as distinct constructs, the predictive models we developed for sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, these became part of our clinical evaluation process with our clients.

On the other hand, our clinical experience with clients presenting with sleep problems led us to explore prognostic aspects for adherence to treatment, and therapeutic outcome. Currently, our research program focuses on sleep apnea and driving risk, the results of which will address evaluation of driver safety in general and policy for assessing driver risk in individuals with sleep apnea in particular.

Today, we are known for our specialized knowledge of the nature of sleep and our therapeutic approach to a wide range of its disorders.

Please contact us by phone or email if you are interested in getting a list of our publications.

Directors

Eva Libman, Ph.D., Director, Sleep Research and Treatment Service

William Brender, Ph.D., Clinical Director, Behavioural Psychotherapy and Research Unit

Clinicians

Iris Alapin, M.A.

Sally Bailes, Ph.D.

Laura Creti, Ph.D.

Catherine Fichten, Ph.D.

Eva Libman, Ph.D.

Dorrie Rizzo, Ph.D., MFT