Alan Eppel has been a practicing psychiatrist over the past thirty years and currently is director of Community Psychiatric Services at St. Joseph's Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario; he is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. He was president of the Ontario Psychiatric Association in 1999 and co-author of 'Parners in Healing'. He is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK.