GLOBAL CONSORTIUM FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PROMOTION
AND PREVENTION IN MENTAL HEALTH (GCAPP)

• E-Newsletter January 2008

  • Melbourne, Australia

  • World Federation for Mental Health

  • Free Issue of New Journal on Advances in School Mental Health Promotion

  • The Carter Center Mental Health Program

  • International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE)

  • INTERCAMHS (International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools

  • Other Intercamhs Activities in 2007

  • Other News:

• E-Newsletter August 2007

  • GCAPP Leadership Change

  • 5th World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders

  • World Federation for Mental Health

  • The Carter Center Mental Health Program

  • New Academic Journal from The Clifford Beers Foundation

  • IUHPE Conference in Vancouver

  • International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools

  • Other News
     

• E-Newsletter, April 2007

  • World Federation for Mental Health

  • The Clifford Beers Foundation

  • The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation Australia Current Activity in the Promotion of Mental Health

  • International  Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools

  • International Union For Health Promotion and Education

  • Other News

GLOBAL CONSORTIUM FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PROMOTION AND PREVENTION IN MENTAL HEALTH
 

Fifth World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Margins to Mainstream

Melbourne, Australia, 10-12 September 2008

The electronic brochure outlining the conference program is available at the conference website, www.margins2mainstream.com  and the Call for Papers is open. The deadline for abstract submissions is 18 February 2008. Abstracts must be submitted online. In addition to individual submissions, the International Scientific Committee invites small groups of presenters to collaborate and submit a complete seminar session around a theme they propose together.

The conference framework is built around four determinants, social participation, violence, discrimination and poverty, and five methodologies – research and evaluation; advocacy; coalition building; program design and implementation; and building the capacity of workforces, communities and organizations. The organizers hope that abstracts will link one of the determinants to one of the methodologies, although an abstract that focuses on only one determinant or methodology is also acceptable. In addition, the structure of the conference will be built around producing a Charter for Mental Health Promotion and Prevention of Disorders that will reflect the recommendations of participants.

The closing date for Early Bird Registration (AUS$480) is 28 May 2008.

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World Federation for Mental Health

Hong Kong Congress; Africa Initiative; World Mental Health Day 2008

WFMH held a very successful World Mental Health Congress in Hong Kong in August, attended by over 850 people, and three hundred attended the Federation’s conference on transcultural mental health in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on 29-31 October 2007. The Hong Kong Congress included an address by Professor William Beardslee on evidence-based strategies to support the children of people with mental illness, and there was a set of workshops on promotion/prevention. The Minneapolis conference addressed issues in mental health promotion in multicultural communities, the provision of culturally appropriate services, and difficulties experienced by refugees, immigrants and survivors of torture.

The first major step in WFMH’s Africa Initiative will take place in Cape Town, South Africa on 29-31 January 2008. More than twenty experts have been invited to participate in a meeting that will guide the development of the project.

For World Mental Health Day 2008 (10 October) and the year-long campaign that follows, WFMH has adopted the theme “Making Mental Health a Global Priority: Scaling Up Services Through Citizen Advocacy and Action.” Materials for the campaign are now being developed, and will reflect the goals of the recent Lancet Series. In 2008 the Federation will also publish a monograph on mental illness and suicide, the outcome of an experts’ meeting held a year ago.

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The Clifford Beers Foundation

Free Issue of New Journal on Advances in School Mental Health Promotion
Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, a new academic journal, was launched in October at the 12th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health Promotion. It is a project of The Clifford Beers Foundation in the United Kingdom in collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland, USA)

The journal will appear quarterly. For information, see the website www.schoolmentalhealth.co.uk  where the inaugural issue can be downloaded free of charge. It contains articles on advancing school mental health promotion globally; school-based interventions for students with depression or at risk for it; classroom management; and school mental health issues in Australia.

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The Carter Center Mental Health Program

November Symposium on Mental Health Policy

The 23rd Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy took place on 7-8 November 2007 at The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The theme was “Creating a Public Policy Action Agenda on Preventing Mental Illness,” with a focus on evidence-based prevention programs that are ready for broader implementation. The importance of the topic was highlighted by Terry Cline, Ph.D., Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in an evening address.

The program opened with an introduction by Mrs. Carter and an overview by Vincent Felitti, M.D., of extensive evidence on the effect of adverse childhood experiences on health in later life. Three panel presentations followed on prevention programs for children; for adolescents; and for adults and older adults. The panelists, who had provided written material in advance, gave a very brief outline of their topics and then opened the session to the audience. This format permitted an unusual measure of interaction between panelists and the audience members, who provided insights from their own experience and asked pointed questions. Conference participants also took part in workshops to define ways that they could carry forward the message about evidence-based prevention of mental disorders in their own work.

The panelists on prevention programs for children were William Beardslee, M.D., Harvard Medical School; Mary Dozier, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Delaware; and Carolyn Webster-Stratton, Center for Human Development and Disability, University of Washington. Prevention programs for adolescents were addressed by Carl C. Bell, M.D., Community Mental Health Council and the University of Illinois at Chicago; David Osher, Ph.D., American Institutes for Research; and Paulette Running Wolf, Ph.D., First Nations Behavioral Health Association. The speakers on prevention programs for adults and older adults were Martha Bruce, Ph.D., Weill Medical College, Cornell University; Eric Goplerud, Ph.D., George Washington University Medical Center, and Richard Price, Ph.D., Michigan Prevention Research Center, University of Michigan.

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International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE)

HP-Source.net Research Conference

One of the IUHPE’s interests is a project to collect information on health promotion policies, infrastructure and practice. Maurice Mittelmark, Immediate Past President, provided the following update:

The first HP-Source.net research conference was held in Bergen, Norway, October 111-12 2007, with over 30 participants from Kenya, Australia, Ghana, Spain, Germany, England and Norway. The relevance of this event to mental health promotion is high, since two of the capacity mapping projects being conducted by HP-Source.net are focused on mental health. HP-Source.net is a voluntary, international collaboration of researchers, practitioners and policy makers, having the common goal to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of health promotion policy, infrastructures and practices by:

• Developing a uniform system for collecting information on health promotion policies, infrastructures and practices;
   
• Creating databases and an access strategy so that information can be accessed at inter-country, country and intra-country levels, by policy makers, international public health organizations and researchers;
  
• Analyzing the databases to support the generation of models for optimum effectiveness and efficiency of health promotion policy, infrastructure and practice;
   
• Actively imparting this information and knowledge, and actively advocating the adoption of models of proven effectiveness and efficiency, by means of publications, seminars, conferences and briefings, among other means.

In Europe, Dr. Eva Jané Llopis directs the HP-Source.net module on mental health promotion, which is undertaken as one activity of IMHPA -- Implementing Mental Health Action -- a pan-European project sponsored by the European Commission. Via HP-Source.net, IMHPA is mapping national level capacity to engage in effective mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention. Details are available at http://www.hp-source.net/dataoutput.html?module=imhpa.

In the Southern part of the Western Pacific, Dr. Louise Rowling directs the HP-Source.net module on child mental health, supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the International Union for Health Promotion and Education. Capacity mapping has been completed or is underway in Australia nationally and New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Laos, the Solomon Islands, and Thailand. Details are available at http://www.hp-source.net/dataoutput.html?module=cmh

Through these innovative capacity mapping efforts, all who are concerned with developing capacity for effective health promotion have detailed information that can be used in research, planning and advocacy, on the present state of capacity in the participating nations, states and territories. Details about the entire HP-Source.net initiative are available at http://www.hp-source.net.

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INTERCAMHS (International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools

International Collaboration by Intercamhs with the International Confederation of Principals (ICP)

In March 2007 Intercamhs President Professor Louise Rowling (Australia) and Advisory Board Secretary Pauline Dickinson (New Zealand) met with the executive of the International Confederation of Principals (ICP) www.icponline.org/index.php in Auckland, New Zealand. The outcome was an agreement to develop a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations to support the work of school principals globally in implementing school mental health. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on 8 October 2007 at the ICP’s conference in Reston, Virginia, USA. Professor Rowling, Cheryl Vince Whitman, Vice President of Intercamhs, and Advisory Board member Annette Johnson from the New York Health Department conducted a workshop about the project and heard from the principals about their current priority issues for school mental health.

The strategic alliance between Intercamhs and the International Confederation of Principals will be focussed around national and regional level activities supported by resources and the technical expertise that exists within the Intercamhs membership. The websites of both organisations will be linked and specific information about the alliance placed on both websites.

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Other Intercamhs Activities in 2007
At the IUHPE conference in Vancouver, Canada, in June Intercamhs conducted a symposium on Issues and outcomes in building capacity for school mental health promotion: International perspectives. Mark Weist, director of the Centre for Mental Health, University of Maryland (Baltimore, Maryland, USA) spoke about Capacity Building in School Mental Health, highlighting progress and challenges in work across the spectrum of promotion, prevention and early intervention in the United States. Gloria Wells, Director, Collaborative Services and Partnerships, Rocky View School Division, Airdrie, Alberta, Canada, provided perspectives on long-distance services in her presentation entitled Building Capacity in School Mental Health: Engaging the Education Sector. A key point was made about “active engagement”, exemplified through an integrated approach. The third presenter, Peter Paulus, Director of the Centre for Mental Health Competence, Leuphana University of Lueneburg (Germany), argued that there is no education without mental health, using the implementation of the German version on MindMatters to support his theme. This stimulated a dialogue with the audience about the approaches being adopted in different countries, and the possibility of diverse approaches to similar needs in order to match each country’s context.

In September 2007 an Intercamhs workshop on networking, advocacy and action for school mental health was conducted at the European Conference on Mental Health (Barcelona, 13-15 September) by Professors Rowling, Katherine Weare (UK) and Dora Gudmundsdottir (Iceland).

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Other News:

New Publication
The Center for Mental Health Services in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a publication on “Promotion and Prevention in Mental Health: Strengthening Parenting and Enhancing Child Resilience.” The report describes twelve evidence-based promotion and prevention programs that strengthen the skills of parents and other caregivers, and encourage child resilience. It also includes a section on the costs and benefits of prevention programs, with estimates of the cost per youth and the estimated value of benefits for selected interventions. The 66-page publication can be downloaded from the SAMHSA web site at: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/svp-0186/ and printed copies can be ordered in the United States by calling toll free to 1 877 726 4727.

SAMHSA maintains a database of prevention programs to assist agencies and organizations to find programs suitable for their communities. The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) is a searchable database of interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders, and can be found online at www.nrepp.samhsa.gov 

Forthcoming in 2008
The Institute of Medicine in the United States will release a report in 2008 on “Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth, and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions.” The report will update an earlier publication, the 1994 IOM report on “Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders.” A committee has been reviewing advances in genetics, neurobiology and psychosocial research that contribute to the prevention of disorders, and will recommend areas of emphasis for future federal policies. For project information, go to www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/printpreview.aspx  

Mental Health America (formerly the U.S. National Mental Health Association)
The 2008 annual conference of MHA will take place on 4-7 June in Washington, D.C. The program for the second half of the meeting, 6-7 June, consists of the Inaugural National Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Summit. Go to www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/conference/  for information about registration and submissions, or contact Danielle Fritze at DFritze@mentalhealthamerica.net  (tel. 703 797 2591).

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E-NEWSLETTER, AUGUST 2007

GCAPP Leadership Change

L. Patt Franciosi has succeeded Professor Clemens Hosman as Chair of GCAPP. Dr. Franciosi is a former President of the World Federation for Mental Health, of the U.S. National Mental Health Association, and of the U.S. National Prevention Coalition. She chaired the Program Committee of the Fifth World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders in 2006 in Oslo, and has also chaired the World Mental Health Day campaign of WFMH.

The new Vice Chair of GCAPP is Dr. Thomas Bornemann, Director of the Mental Health Program at The Carter Center. Before taking up this post he was Senior Adviser for Mental Health in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse at the World Health Organization. Previously he was Deputy Director of the Federal Center for Mental Health Services in the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Department of Health and Human Services).

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5th World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders

With the theme “From Margins 2 Mainstream,” the Fifth World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders will be held on 10-12 September 2008 at the Melbourne Convention Centre in Australia. Please register at http://www.margins2mainstream.com  to receive regular updates.

Previous conferences in this biennial conference series have been held in Atlanta (2000), London (2002), Auckland (2004) and Oslo (2006).

The organization of the Melbourne Conference is being undertaken by a partnership consisting of VicHealth: The Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, The World Federation for Mental Health, The Carter Center Mental Health Program, and The Clifford Beers Foundation in the U.K.

From Margins 2 Maintsream 2008 will build and strengthen coalitions across diverse sectors and highlight the impact of socio-economic determinants on mental health and mental illness worldwide. In particular, the conference will focus on the powerful influence that social inclusion/exclusion, violence, discrimination and poverty have on individual and community mental health and wellbeing. International frameworks, developments in research and effective interventions to address these influences will be profiled. Addressing the needs of those who are most at the margins of society will be a priority in the program.

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World Federation for Mental Health

This year’s theme for the Federation’s global education campaign, World Mental Health Day, is “Mental Health in a Changing World: The Impact of Culture and Diversity.” World Mental Health Day was established by WFMH as a vehicle for bringing international attention to issues in mental health. It is observed on 10 October, and the day is used in many countries to mark the start of longer public education programs. The campaign material is now available on the WFMH web site ( www.wfmh.org ) and is also provided on CD for the first time. The material is presented in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. To obtain a copy of the CD, please contact the project manager, Deborah Maguire (dmaguire@wfmh.com) and provide a full postal address.

WFMH is holding two conferences this year that reflect the World Mental Health Day topic. The Federation’s biennial World Mental Health Congress takes place on 19-13 August 2007 in Hong Kong, on the theme “The Impact of Culture on Mental Health.” The conference has a track on promotion/prevention. On 29-31 October the Federation will hold a conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on “Transcultural Mental Health in a Changing World: Building a Global Response.” For information, visit the WFMH web site at www.wfmh.org..

The Federation has received a planning grant from the Ford Foundation for an initiative to address the mental health consequences of HIV/AIDS for the carers of people living with the illness. As part of the initial phase of the project a two-day expert meeting will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, in the last quarter of 2007.

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The Carter Center Mental Health Program

The Mental Health Program, the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, and the South Africa Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism are arranging events in South Africa centered on World Mental Health Day (10 October) to promote mental health awareness and stigma reduction. The participants will also work to generate support for the South African component of the Carter Center Journalism Fellowships program. The award of fellowships to five U.S. journalists and two from South Africa has been announced. Two journalists from Romania will also be added to the program this year. The fellowships aim to improve reporting on mental health in the media, to contribute to public education and to reduce discrimination.

Thomas Bornemann, Director of the Mental Health Program, was recently invited to consult in the Netherlands and in South Australia on major reforms under way in their respective mental health systems. At the invitation of the Mental Health Association of the Netherlands he visited mental health facilities at various locations in the country between May 29 and June 3, and will deliver a report on his findings during a return visit for the Association’s tenth anniversary activities in December, 2007. The Association functions under the Health Management Organization for Behavioral Health.

In South Australia Dr. Bornemann consulted on the work of the new Social Inclusion Board in relation to important mental health reforms taking place in the state. He reviewed the full system of the reform efforts and at the conclusion provided a detailed briefing of his findings to the Office of the Premier. The importance attached to the reforms is indicated by the fact that the Social Inclusion Board reports directly to the Premier.

During his Australian visit he also gave major addresses at the universities of Melbourne and Sydney. In Melbourne he met with senior faculty and staff from the Mental Health Policy Research Center and the School of Population Health at the university, and gave a presentation on international policy in mental health. He then traveled to Sydney at the request of Professor Glenn Maberly, Interim Director of the new Global Health Institute at the University of Sydney. Mental health is one of the Institute’s priority subject areas. It is currently assisting with mental health system development for the island of Vanuatu. Dr. Bornemann gave an address to medical school and mental health service personnel on current issues and trends in U.S. mental health policy.

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New Academic Journal from The Clifford Beers Foundation

A new journal, “Advances in School Mental Health Promotion,” will be launched at the 12th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health which takes place on October 25-27, 2007 in Orlando, Florida (for conference details go to csmh.umaryland.edu or email csmh@psych.umaryland.edu). The journal’s academic editor is Professor Mark Weist, Director of the Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. The managing editor is Michael Murray, Chief Executive of The Clifford Beers Foundation.

The multi-disciplinary journal aims to promote dialogue on the advancement of training, practice, research and policy in school mental health promotion. The emphasis is on studies that reflect a shared agenda for collaboration to improve school environments; school-wide social and emotional learning, mental health promotion, and youth development; prevention of mental disorders; and interventions for youth in both general and special education.

Forthcoming articles cover subjects such as advancing school mental health promotion globally; school-based interventions for students with depression or at risk for it; teachers’ thinking about classroom management; and the politics of school mental health.
The Journal’s website is www.schoolmentalhealth.co.uk,  which has information about individual and corporate subscriptions. For information about submitting articles for publication, contact the academic editor, Mark Weist: (mark.weist@psych.umaryland.edu).

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IUHPE Conference in Vancouver

The International Union for Health Promotion and Health Education held its 2007 conference at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre on 10-15 June, with an attendance of about 3,000 people. During the conference Maurice Mittelmark ended his second three-year term as President, and the office passed to David McQueen of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The next IUHPE conference will take place in Hong Kong in 2010.

The overall theme of the conference was celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion (the outcome document of the WHO conference in Ottawa in 1986). The second theme was the social determinants of health. The WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, which is due to report in 2008, held one of its periodic meetings in Vancouver just before the conference. Its chair, Sir Michael Marmot, was one of the opening keynote speakers. The other was Stephen Lewis, the former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and head of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

There was a special focus on indigenous health throughout the program, mainly with reference to Canadian First Nations and Inuit people. However the plenary speaker for this topic was Esau Kekeubata, chairman of the council of chiefs in a remote rainforest village in the Solomon Islands. With the help of an Australian health worker/translator, he described very effectively the beliefs of his Kwaio tribe and the way in which those beliefs collide with modern concepts of health care.

Mental health issues were included in the program in major addresses and many workshop sessions, although not as a specialized track. Senator Michael Kirby introduced the initial plans for Canada’s new Mental Health Commission, incorporated in March 2007. The establishment of the Commission is a response to the need to develop a national mental health strategy (Canada is the only G-8 country without one).

A dialogue session on mental health promotion chaired by Prof. Louise Rowling (President of Intercamhs) from the University of Sydney, Australia, was very well attended. The panelists were Eva Jané-Llopis, Medical Officer, Mental Health Promotion and Mental Disorder Prevention in WHO’s European Regional Office; Prof. John Raeburn, past Chair of the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand; and Margaret Barry, Director of the Health Promotion Research Centre at the University of Ireland, Galway.

On 9 June there was a one-day pre-conference symposium on mental health, presented by the British Columbia Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Alberta Mental Health Board in conjunction with other Canadian partners. It drew on international speakers already in Vancouver for the conference to provide an excellent program. The keynote address was given by Eva Jané-Llopis.

International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools (Intercamhs)

Members of the Advisory Board of Intercamhs attending the IUHPE conference held a meeting in Vancouver. Louise Rowling, President of Intercamhs, and Cheryl Vince Whitman, Director for Health and Human Development Programs, Education Development Center. Inc., USA, which provides the Intercamhs secretariat, led the session.

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Other News

IMHPA Conference: A European conference on mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention will be held in Barcelona, Spain, on 13-15 September. For information, go to the web site at www.imhpa.net/conference. The four main themes are:

• From evidence to practice for policies and programmes
• Implementation: developing dissemination, implementation and management plans
• Financing and engaging settings and stakeholders in mental health
• Building capacity and training

The conference is organized by the Government of Catalonia Health Department and IMHPA (the European Network for Mental Health Promotion and Mental Disorder Prevention). It is co-financed by the European Commission Directorate of Health and Consumer Protection, and co-sponsored by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.

Ming T. Tsuang, Willian S. Stone and Michael J. Lyons, editors (2007). Recognition and Prevention of Major Mental and Substance Abuse Disorders. Washington, D.C. and London, England: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Pp.411. This volume brings together a large amount of material on the prevention of mental and behavioral disorders, and surveys recent advances in research.

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E-NEWSLETTER, APRIL 2007

Planning for the fifth World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, Melbourne, Australia September 10-12, 2008

Early Planning

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WORLD FEDERATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Meeting on Multicultural Mental Health at Dulles, Virginia, USA

WFMH Biennial Mental Health Congress: Hong Kong, SAR China,
19-23 August 2007

The deadline for abstracts for the Hong Kong Congress is 15 April; late abstracts will be reviewed until slots in all of the tracks are filled. For full information about the program, speakers, registration, hotels and post-conference tours in China, please go to the conference website at www.wmhc2007.com.

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WFMH Conference on Transcultural Mental Health
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 29-31 October 2007

To be placed on a mailing list for conference information contact Ellen Mercer at emercer@wfmh.com.  The deadline for abstracts and posters is 29 June 2007. Program updates will be placed on the WFMH web site at www.wfmh.org.

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New CD with Information for Young People About Schizophrenia, to
Encourage Early Diagnosis and Treatment

Early diagnosis can be important for interventions to manage the illness. The aim of the material is to highlight how young adults of university/college age view schizophrenia, the incidence of the disorder in this age group, and the factors that serve as barriers to recognition, effective treatment and rehabilitation. The CD will be available from the WFMH Secretariat in May 2007. Single copies are available free as long as supplies last. To order one please contact Deborah Maguire, WFMH Director of Programs: dmaguire@wfmh.com. 

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THE CLIFFORD BEERS FOUNDATION

“Kindling the Flame”: Conference in Perth, Western Australia, 21-23 February, 2007

Western Australia is the country’s largest state by area, occupying about a third of the mainland, and Perth is a long distance from Sydney (Jakarta, Indonesia, is nearer). The three-day programme attracted delegates and speakers from as far away as Europe, USA and Canada and closer to home from Singapore, the eastern states of Australia and New Zealand.

The conference had ten keynote speakers, three plenary addresses and one hundred and two parallel breakout sessions covering the Conference themes:

• Construct of mental health - what does it mean to be mentally healthy?
•  Influences on mental health (social determinants and protective factors)
• Who is responsible for mental health promotion?
• How do you do mental health promotion?
• Mental Health Promotion 2007 and beyond.

Northern Ireland Conference

The Clifford Beers Foundation is planning a UK/Ireland conference on mental health promotion late this year or early in 2008. It will be the third in a series, after meetings in Dublin (2005) and London (2006).

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THE VICTORIAN HEALTH PROMOTION FOUNDATION AUSTRALIA (VICHEALTH) CURRENT ACTIVITY IN THE PROMOTION OF MENTAL HEALTH

Background

VicHealth Mental Health and Wellbeing Program

• Research, monitoring and evaluation;
• Direct Participation programs;
• Organizational development, including workforce development;
• Community Strengthening;
• Communications and Marketing;
• Advocacy;
• Legislative and Policy Reform.

Vic Health focuses these mutually reinforcing activities on three key determinants of mental health: 1) social inclusion, 2) freedom from discrimination and violence and 3) access to economic resources.

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• Redevelopment of the VicHealth Arts Program to focus on the mental benefits of participation in the arts.
• Implementation of Sport & Recreation Programs designed to increase access to participation for the whole population and in particular, sub-populations experiencing social isolation and disadvantage in order to enhance their mental health and wellbeing.
• Development of Youth Technology Programs designed to facilitate access to supportive relationships for marginalized young people.
• Development of Walking School Bus Programs designed to increase physical activity and access to supportive relationships for young people and their families.

2. Discrimination

• Implementation of the Building Bridges Program designed to decrease race-based discrimination through facilitating positive contact and cooperation between people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Conduct of a Community Attitudes Survey on race-based discrimination with findings documented and disseminated in order to inform future strategies to reduce discriminatory attitudes and behaviors.
• Consolidation of an Indigenous Leadership Program designed to increase the self esteem, skills and resources of Indigenous young people and reduce race-based discrimination at the local and state levels.

3. Violence Against Women

• Dissemination of the findings of a study into the “Burden of Disease Associated with Intimate Partner Violence” which identifies such violence as the most significant risk factor for the health of women aged 15-45 in Australia.
• Conduct of a Community Attitudes Survey on Violence Against Women to inform development of a mass media Community Education Campaign to reduce violence perpetrated against women.

4. Economic Participation

• Conduct of research focusing on Workforce Stress in Victoria – Developing a Systems Approach to inform development of organizational practices to promote mental health and wellbeing.
• Development of supportive Education and Training Programs for young people from Indigenous and Refugee Communities and those exiting the Juvenile Justice System.

5. Systems Strengthening

• Organization for hosting the 5th World Conference in the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders, as part of the GCAPP.
• Conduct of evidence reviews indicating 1) the links between mental health and social inclusion, discrimination and violence and 2) models of good practice to increase social inclusion and reduce discrimination and violence.
• Ongoing provision of the VicHealth Mental Health Promotion Short Course to 500 cross-sector practitioners per annum, with 87% of participants reporting on-going integration of learnings into their professional practice.
• Development of publications and tools to support cross sector practice to promote mental health and wellbeing.
• Support for research identifying models of good practice in promoting mental health and wellbeing across sectors.
• Establishment of the McCaughey Centre, a new research and practice Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing.

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The McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental
Health and Community Wellbeing

Further information regarding the McCaughey Centre, including recent news, publications and research activities, can be accessed via the Centre’s webpage at http://www.mccaugheycentre.unimelb.edu.au/index 
The Centre produces a bi-monthly e-newsletter detailing recent activities and items of interest – new subscriptions are welcome, and you can subscribe by forwarding an email to info-mccaughey@unimelb.edu.au  and including the word ‘subscribe’ in the subject heading. Details regarding recent McCaughey Centre publications can be accessed at http://www.mccaugheycentre.unimelb.edu.au/news_and_publications/3200_
publications_and_enewsletters.php 

Further Information regarding VicHealth activity in the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing can be accessed via the VicHealth webpage at: http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au 

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INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH AND SCHOOLS (INTERCAMHS)

February Meeting in Perth, Australia

The International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools (Intercamhs) is increasingly involved in the global agenda to promote student mental health and schooling success. The Alliance has over 200 members from 20 countries and has facilitated or participatedin international meetings focusing on the advancement of whole school mental health promotion in Calgary, Jamaica and Oslo and more recently in February in Perth, Western Australia. This one day pre-conference 'Boosting the Sparks' was held the day before the International Conference on mental health promotion 'Kindling the Flames' held under the auspices of another GCAPP member, The Clifford Beers Foundation.

Over 90 participants attended the one-day meeting, many from the education sector. They valued the opportunity to have a whole day that focused on school mental health. The pre-conference event was a collaboration of Intercamhs, the Australian Guidance and Counselling Association and the School Psychologists of Western Australia Association. Partnerships with local organizations are a feature of these international meetings.

The Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action (CSMHA) is one of two national policy and analysis centers funded in full by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the U.S. Health Resources Services Administration. Its mission is to strengthen policies and programs in school mental health to improve learning and promote success for America's youth. It is located on the campus of the University of Maryland Baltimore and has been in existence since 1995. Ten of the twelve years were spent as a technical assistance center responsible
for disseminating relevant information regarding school-based mental health.

The CSMHA houses the University of Maryland, Baltimore School Mental Health Program (SMHP), which offers direct mental health services to youth in Baltimore schools. Several of the staff members who work for the CSMHA also work in the SMHP as clinicians, trainers and supervisors, which informs them of the constantly changing climate of child and adolescent mental health. The SMHP clinicians are a diverse group of psychologists, social workers, and
counselors who have been delivering mental health services throughout Baltimore since 1989.

The Center has a sizeable advisory board from diverse backgrounds and with members from all areas of the United States. The CSMHA and its board members, along with the IDEA Partnership (see www.ideapartnership.org ),  support a National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health, which provides a forum for multi-scale learning and collaboration on many issues related to the promotion of student mental health (see www.sharedwork.org.) 

The 19th IUHPE World Conference will take place in Vancouver on June 10-15. One of the five pre-conference symposia will cover various themes in mental health promotion. Speakers in the June 10 session on “No Health Without Mental Health” include Eva Jane-Llopis (WHO-Europe); Therese Agossou (WHO-Africa, Congo); Penny Hawes (Canada); Corey Keyes (USA); Jean Caron (Canada); Margaret Barry (Ireland); Cornelia Wieman (Canada); Katherine Minich (Canada);Nadarajah Sivarajah (Sri Lanka); Esau Keukebata (Solomon Islands); and Jaime Sapag (Chile).