Events
Well Nest
This Fall, WELL NEST has something special in store for you – a Book Swap. And just in time for sweater weather! It’s the season to cozy up on the couch with some tea, a warm blanket, a flickering candle, and a GOOD BOOK!
In order to grab a book (or two), you need to bring a book! It can be a novel you loved and want to share with others, a delicious cookbook you’ve made all of the recipes from, or that one colouring book you thought you’d fill out, but still haven’t gotten to and feel ready to pass along. Feel free to be creative! If you don’t have any books, or are not ready to give one or two away, we suggest exploring Montreal’s free Community Book-Sharing Boxes in the streets, and spot that good book you think someone else might enjoy.
For this 5 à 7, you can expect a book shop ambiance, acoustic music, a warm drink and something sweet to soak it up with, and maybe a few other surprise elements you’ll just need to see for yourself.
Looking forward to seeing you on October 15th!
Annual Mental Health Forum
Rethinking Mental Illness from the Body Up: Metabolism, Medication, and Recovery
With Dr. Matthew Bernstein, Psychiatrist and lecturer
Thursday, October 29, 7pm
Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, 7141 Sherbrooke West and online
Most of us were taught that serious mental illness is a problem of brain chemistry, corrected by the right medication. That model has helped many people — but when it doesn’t work, it can leave families stranded. They are told their loved one is “treatment resistant”, as though they had failed. A growing body of science points to something the old model overlooked: the brain is the body’s most energy-hungry organ, and mental health is deeply tied to metabolism — how our cells produce and use energy.
Drawing on his clinical work and the emerging research, Dr. Matthew Bernstein will explain, in plain language, how metabolic health shapes the brain; what interventions like nutrition, ketogenic therapy, exercise, and sleep can and cannot do; and how this widens the toolkit for recovery — including the careful, collaborative question of when medication helps and when it can be safely reduced. This is an honest and hopeful look at a wider horizon, and what it means for the families living it.
50th Anniversary Open House!
December 3, 5-7pm
At the AMI office, 5800 Decarie, Montreal
Come celebrate with us as we look forward to the next 50 years!
Enjoy food and drink, special exhibits and giveaways, and meet our staff and board as you discover AMI’s past, present, and future.
AMI’s Weekly Walking Group
JOIN US EVERY TUESDAY AT 4:30pm SHARP!
As part of our continuing efforts to encourage physical activity as a path to improved mental health, every Tuesday we hold a walking group for all abilities, open to all friends of AMI!
Past Events
Beat the February Blues 5
Beat the February Blues with AMI and Cummings! As part of our continuing efforts to encourage physical activity as a pathway to better mental health, you were able to sample online fitness classes for people aged 50+ from February 9-13, 2026.
Author Discussion – Mental Illness: A Family Affair
In this special event on January 24, 2026, authors Susan Grundy and Susan Doherty spoke about the complex realities faced by family caregivers— the grief, the exhaustion, the invisibility, and the limits of what families can do.
Annual Mental Health Forum
November 13, 2025
Beat the February Blues 4
Beat the February Blues with AMI and Cummings! As part of our continuing efforts to encourage physical activity as a pathway to better mental health, you were able to sample online fitness classes for people aged 50+.
Annual Mental Health Forum
October 17, 2024
Beat the February Blues 3
Low-Beer Event
Medical Assistance in Dying for Mental Illness:
Viewpoints, Challenges, Possible Outcomes
November 2, 2023
Medical Assistance in Dying is complex and controversial. Our event addressed the multi-faceted, complicated, and deeply nuanced subject of MAiD for mental illness through different perspectives of mental health practitioners and people living with mental illness.
Beat the February Blues II
Rethinking Psychiatry
BPD Event
Low-Beer Memorial Lecture
Beat the February Blues
2 for 1 on October 8th: Join us online for the Low-Beer Memorial Lecture & Awards presentation
Did you miss the 2020 Low-Beer lecture and Awards presentation? Watch the recordings by clicking on the links below.
Family, Medicine and Madness: the 2019 Low-Beer Lecture
Did you miss the 2019 Low-Beer lecture? Fear not!
Hear author James FitzGerald’s family story and his suggestions to fix Canada’s broken mental health system.
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