home • the institute • examples of resilience • staff • resources

Patricia E. Deegan Ph.D. is a co-founder of the Boston University Institute for the Study of Human Resilience and is Senior Director of the Joshua Tree Center for Ex-Patient Studies. Pat is a psychiatric survivor, having first been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Duquesne University in 1984. She worked as a clinical director of community based programs for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health from 1983-1987. In August of 1988, Dr. Deegan took a position as a program director with the Northeast Independent Living Program. In this capacity she designed and implemented a model for working with people with psychiatric disabilities in Independent Living/cross disability settings. This program was nominated for a "Community Health Leadership Award" by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Pat is an activist in the ex-patient movement and a co-founder of the National Empowerment Center Inc. which is a federally funded, national technical assistance center run by consumer/survivors. Between 1992 and September of 2001 she held the position of Director of Training at the National Empowerment Center, Inc. In this capacity she developed many self-help tools and resources to support people in their recovery and empowerment. Dr. Deegan also developed innovative trainings and curriculums including an audio-taped simulation of hearing voices. The "voices curriculum" has received international acclaim and is used to train police officers, psychiatrists, mental health workers and family members to work more compassionately with people diagnosed with mental illness.

Pat has given keynote addresses, lectures, and workshops across the United States, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. She has 27 published papers on topics related to recovery and empowerment as well as many articles that have been featured in newsletters and on websites. Pat's papers have been have been translated into Spanish, Hebrew, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish and German.

To contact Pat Deegan, visit her web site at www.patdeegan.com or email her at Pat@patdeegan.com.