Dr. Farkas is the Co-Principal Investigator of the Research and Training Center and Professor in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University. She has authored and co-authored over 100 articles in professional journals, 4 textbooks, over 20 book chapters, and 7 multi-media training packages.
For more than 35 years, Dr. Farkas has worked in various capacities in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation, and recovery. Among her many roles providing training, research and consultation, Dr. Farkas was in charge of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center in Psychiatric Rehabilitation, providing training, consultation and research expertise to the W.H.O. network, serving as the Vice President of the World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation (WAPR) and President of the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers (NARRTC). She has developed training, consultation and organizational change methodologies to support programs and integrative systems in their efforts to adopt psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery innovations around the globe. She is a Visiting Professor of Social Studies at Hanze University, Netherlands and Malmo University, Sweden and among other duties, was on a Research Advisory Committee at King’s College, London, England investigating methods facilitating the recovery of individuals with serious mental illnesses. Her past grant experiences have ranged from helping the core disciplines develop curriculum for pre-service programs in Nursing, Psychiatry, Psychology and Social Work to co-leading an effort to create standards of evidence for disability research and a process for translating the research into practice tools across disability fields. She has served on Training Committees and Committees on Serious Mental Illnesses in both APA’s (i.e. American Psychological and American Psychiatric Associations).
As an educator, Dr. Farkas received Boston University’s Award of Merit; as an expert in development and implementation of innovations, she received the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services John Beard Award for innovations in the field; the Lifetime Achievement Award (NYAPRS) as well as the National Commendation Award from the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers for “pioneering scientific advances that have helped transform research on mental health and rehabilitation systems and being at the forefront of a paradigm shift that has helped practitioners, families, and society, as a whole, to see capacity and potential in people who were once perceived to be beyond hope.”
Areas of Expertise
- Scaling up interventions/ large scale implementation
- Transformation of mental health programs and systems to promote recovery across cultures and countries.
- Identifying and assessing ingredients of recovery oriented mental health services.
- Using Evidence Based Practice, Promising Practices in recovery oriented programs.
- Developing and evaluating programs and services in recovery and psychiatric rehabilitation.
- Training personnel at all levels, people with lived experience and families in recovery and psychiatric rehabilitation practices (in-service/pre-service).
- Incorporating people with lived experience and their input into program and systems development.
- Developing Personal Assistance Services for individuals with psychiatric disabilities.
- Developing academic programs and curricula in recovery and rehabilitation.
- Knowledge Translation, bridging science to practice.
Selected Publications
Davidson, L., Bellamy, C., Chinman, M, Farkas, M., Ostrow, L., Cook, J., Jonikas, J. et al. (2018). Revisiting the Rationale and Evidence for Peer Support, Psychiatric Times, June 29, 35:6.
Farkas, M. (2018) Peer Delivered Services in Mental Health: Infancy or Adolescence? World Psychiatry, 17:2, June. 222-223.
Marrone, J., Farkas, M., Abramson (in press). All Change is Difficult, No Matter How Long You Put It Off: Policy and Making Mental Health Systems of Care “High Performers” in Employment Outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation.
Chinman M, McInnis K, Eisen S, Ellison M, Farkas M, Armstrong M, Resnick S. (2017). Establishing a research agenda for understanding the role and impact of mental health peer specialists. Psychiatric Services, 68:9, September, 955-57.
Sanches, S.A., Swildens, W.E., Busschbach, J.T. van, Farkas, M. & Wel, T. van (2017). Fidelity of Rehabilitation (FiRe): evaluation of a fidelity measure to promote implementation of evidence-based rehabilitation. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, (August).
Farkas, M., Anthony, W.A., Montenegro, R., Gayvoronskaya,E. (2016) Person Centered Psychiatric Rehabilitation. In J. Messich, M. Botbol, G. Christodolou, R.Cloninger & I. Salloum (eds) Person Centered Psychiatry. Switzerland: Springer International Pub., 277-291.
Lyman, R., Kurtz, M., Farkas, M., George, P., Dougherty, R., Daniels, A., Ghose, S., Delphn-Rittmon, M. ( 2014) , Skill Building: Assessing the Evidence. Psychiatric Services, 65, 6, 727-38.
Matthews, L., Farkas, M., Medway, M., Tayler, N. (2014). Psychiatric Disability, Recovery and Family. In Michael Millington & Irma Marini (eds). Families in Rehabilitation Counseling. A Community Approach. Springer. 131-152.
Slade, M., Amering, M., Farkas, M., Hamilton4, B., O’Hagan M.,Panther. G., Perkins, R., Shepherd, G., Tse, S., Whitley, R. (2014) Uses and abuses of recovery: implementing recovery-oriented practices in mental health systems. World Psychiatry, 13(1), 12-20.
Farkas, M., Forbess, R. & Bradford, W. (2013) Recovery Facilitating Service Planning: An Interdisciplinary Responsibility. In K. Yeager, D. Cutler, D. Svendsen & G. Sills, (eds). Modern Community Mental Health Work: An Interdisciplinary Approach, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Farkas, M. & Anthony, W.A. (2010). Psychiatric Rehabilitation Interventions: A Review. International Review of Psychiatry, April 2010; 22(2): 114–129
Farkas, M. (2007). The vision of recovery today: What it is and what it means for services. World Psychiatry 6:2, 1 – 7.
Selected Presentations
Chair, State of the Science Meeting. Future Research Needed on Employment for Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses: Moving the Needle. Boston MA. Nov 7 2018.
Symposium Chair/Panelist. Supported Education: An overview. Symposium: Title: Community participation through education: Supported education for people with psychiatric disabilities. XIII WAPR Congress: Recovery, Citizenship, Human Rights –Reviewing Consensus. Madrid Spain. July 6 2018.
Invited Plenary Presentation. Participation of peers in mental health services – A critical recovery strategy: What have we learned? Associacao Brasileira de Saude Mental-ABRASME, 3rd Forum de Direitos Humanos e Saude Mental. Florianopolis Brazil. June 29 2017.
Invited presentation. Integrated Scaling Approach (ISA): A Model for Large Scale Implementation of Effective Interventions for Employment. NIDILRR/ACL Seminar. Washington DC. April 5 2017.
Invited Plenary. International Lessons Learned: From Deinstitutionalization to Recovery. 1st Abu Dhabi International Congress of WAPR – Mena Conference. Abu Dhabi. September 22 2017.
Invited Presentation. Vocational Recovery: More than just getting a job. Promens Care/GGZ Drenthe. Assen Netherlands. Nov 11 2016.
Symposium Presenter. Promoting Recovery: A Toolkit for Providers Symposium: Recovery: From Literature to Practice. PRA Workforce Summit. Philadelphia PA. June 2, 2015.
Chair, State of the Science Meeting: Disability Policy and Employment for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities. Washington D.C. 2013.
Plenary Speaker “Choices: The challenge and foundation of recovery facilitating services and interventions.” Haifa University. 2013.
Presentation: “Peer Involvement in Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Recovery.” Round Table on Good Practices and Psychosocial Rehabilitation, “Psychosocial Rehabilitation in an Economic Crisis: New Practices for Emerging Needs,” WAPR, Athens, Greece. 2012.
Presentation on “Infusing recovery principles and competencies into behavioral health agencies.” Policy Academy, BRSS-TACs, Reston, VA USA. 2012.
Plenary address: “Le Retablissement: Qu’est ce que ca change?” Institut Universitaire en santé mental de Quebec, Colloque, May, 2012.
“Workforce Competencies for a Recovery Oriented System.” The World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation, “RECOVERY – hva innebærer det for psykisk helsearbeid,” Bergen, Norway, June 2012.
Plenary Address: “Recovery e riabilitazione psichiatrica: a che punto ci troviamo?” Istituto di ricovero e cura a caracterre scientifico, Fatebenefratelli, San Giovanni di Dio, Brescia, Italy. 2012.