|
|
|
E-Newsletters |
|
|
GLOBAL CONSORTIUM FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF PROMOTION
AND PREVENTION IN MENTAL HEALTH (GCAPP)
|
|
|
GLOBAL CONSORTIUM FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
PROMOTION AND PREVENTION IN MENTAL HEALTH (GCAPP)
E-BULLETIN, SEPTEMBER 2010
Sixth World Conference,
Washington D.C.
The Sixth World Conference on the Promotion of
Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders
takes place in Washington, D.C., on 17-19 November 2010. Please
consider attending! The program offers many international
perspectives and highlights advances in mental health promotion and
in the prevention of disorders; indigenous mental health; mental
health programs for schools; healing from adverse experiences and
trauma; suicide prevention; developing stakeholder partnerships; and
training a workforce for promotion and prevention.
The website at
http://wmhconf2010.hhd.org
has information about registration and the conference hotel. The
plenary program and the schedule of workshop presentations is also
posted there.
Speakers include:
Sir Michael Marmot
Michael Marmot has led a research group on health inequalities for
the past 30 years. He is Principal Investigator of the Whitehall
Studies of British civil servants, investigating explanations for
the striking inverse social gradient in morbidity and mortality. He
leads the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and is engaged
in several international research efforts on the social determinants
of health. He was Chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of
Health set up by the World Health Organization in 2005: ‘Closing the
Gap in a Generation.’
Professor Marmot won the Balzan Prize for
Epidemiology in 2004, gave the Harveian Oration in 2006 and won the
William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research in 2008. At the
request of the British Government he conducted a review of health
inequalities, published in the report 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives'
in February 2010. He has now been invited by the Regional Director
of WHO Europe to conduct a European review of health inequalities.
Sir Michael is the President of the British Medical Association (BMA).
Hon. Leslie Ramsammy
The Hon. Minister of Health of Guyana, Leslie Ramsammy, has served
as a member of his country’s parliament since 1997. He was President
of the World Health Organization’s World Health Assembly in
2008-2009, and President of the Pan American Health Organization’s
Directing Council in 2006-2008. He is currently chair of the
Steering Committee of CARPHA (the Caribbean Public Health Agency),
an entity being created for public health by the countries of
CARICOM. He is also chair of Affordable Medicines for Malaria, an
entity of the Global Fund, and serves on the Advisory Committee of
the NCDnet, a global advisory board to promote greater attention to
chronic diseases.
Sir Mason Durie
A leader in the field of indigenous mental health, Mason Durie is a
member of the Rangitane and Ngati Kauwhata (Maori) tribes. He is
Professor of Maori Research and Development and Deputy Vice-
Chancellor at Massey University, New Zealand, where he was appointed
to the Chair in Maori Studies in 1988. He is involved in several
major research programs, and has published many articles on health,
mental health, and the social determinants of health. He was an
inaugural member of the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation and
pioneered community mental health programs with a particular focus
on indigenous communities.
Hon. Michael J. Kirby
Michael Kirby is Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. He
served in the Canadian Senate from 1984-2006, and from 1999 to 2006
was chairman of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs,
Science and Technology. During his term as chairman Canada’s health
care system was the major focus of the Committee’s work. This
included the development of an influential report on mental health
in 2006, “Out of the Shadows at Last.” In 2008 the Governor General
of Canada announced his appointment as an Officer of the Order of
Canada in recognition of his lifetime achievements concerning major
public policy issues and his current commitment to confronting the
challenges related to mental illness.
Kjell Magne Bondevik
Kjell Magne Bondevik is the founder and President of the Oslo Centre
for Peace and Human Rights. He was the United Nations Secretary
General’s Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa from
February 2006 to June 2007, a period when the area was experiencing
extreme drought and food insecurity. Mr. Bondevik served as Prime
Minister of Norway in 1997-2000 and 2001-2005. Previously he was
Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1989-1990 and Minister of Church and
Education in 1983-1986. In 1979 he was ordained as a priest in the
Lutheran Church of Norway. He has become a prominent mental health
advocate after experiencing depression. He speaks internationally on
stigma, mental health care and recovery, and gave a memorable
address at the Fourth World Conference in Oslo in 2006.
Former U.S. Senator
Gordon J. Smith
Gordon Smith has served two terms as U.S. Senator from Oregon.
During his tenure in the Senate his committee assignments included
the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Energy and
Natural Resources Committee, and the Foreign Relations Committee. He
joined the National Association of Broadcasters as President and CEO
in November 2009. Following the death of his adopted son, Senator
Smith was instrumental in the passage of a US$84 million U.S. Youth
Suicide Prevention Law in 2004.
A complete list of
keynote speakers is available on the conference website.
The conference is co-sponsored by the World Health Organization, the
Pan American Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. It has received special support from the
U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration and the Mental
Health Commission of Canada. The U.S. National Institute of Mental
Health and the U.S. Indian Health Service are also supporters.
The Scientific Committee is chaired by Dr.
David McQueen, Associate Director for Global Health Promotion at the
Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The Host Organization is
Education Development Center, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts, and its
conference team is headed by Dr. Jerry Reed, Director of EDC’s
Center for the Study and Prevention of Injury, Violence and Suicide.
The three founding partners of the conference series are the World
Federation for Mental Health, The Carter Center, and the Clifford
Beers Foundation.
Global Consortium for the
Advancement of Promotion and Prevention in Mental Health (GCAPP)
GCAPP will hold a meeting for its member
organizations on 16 November, before the opening of the Sixth World
Conference. Helen Herrman of the University of Melbourne will chair
the meeting.
International
Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools (Intercamhs)
Intercamhs will hold a one-day pre-conference
workshop on 16 November before the opening of the Sixth World
Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of
Mental and Behavioral Disorders. The workshop will be held at the
headquarters of the American Institutes of Research in Washington,
D.C. Its topic is “Advancing School Mental Health Globally:
Maximizing School Leader Involvement in School Mental Health and
Moving Toward Enhanced Implementation Practice.” For registration
and to see the workshop program’s flyer, go to the home page of the
Sixth World Conference (http://wmhconf2010.hhd.org).
World Federation for Mental
Health
WFMH President Tony Fowke, AM, has announced
the appointment of Dr. Vijay K. Ganju as the new Secretary General
and Chief Executive Officer of the World Federation for Mental
Health.
Dr. Ganju has provided leadership for
initiatives related to mental health system transformation,
implementation and dissemination of evidence-based practices, mental
health system financing and the development of outcomes systems. At
the state level in the U.S.A., he directed the Texas Mental Health
System Transformation project and was previously the Director of
Planning, Research and Evaluation at the state’s mental health and
mental retardation agency. At the national level, he was the
director of the SAMHSA-supported Center for Mental Health Quality
and Accountability, which supports the development and dissemination
of evidence-based practices, performance measurement, and quality
improvement initiatives. He also coordinated the development and
implementation of an outcomes system, components of which are being
implemented in all the U.S. states and territories.
At the international level, Dr. Ganju has
worked with the World Health Organization on the development of
mental health training modules. He was the lead author for the
module on mental health financing and a co-author for the module on
quality improvement.
He has provided consultation to mental health
systems in Canada, Albania and Macedonia and is currently working on
a project for mental health care delivery in the Pacific islands.
WFMH World Mental Health
Day Campaign
On 10 October 2010 the World Federation for
Mental Health will launch its annual World Mental Health Day
campaign. This year’s theme is “Mental Health and Long-Term
Conditions: The Need for Continued and Integrated Care.” It
addresses the mental and emotional issues of those with long-term
conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and
chronic respiratory illness, and the need to improve the services
available in order to provide comprehensive care.
New GCAPP Member
Organization
Finland’s National Institute for Health and
Welfare became a member of GCAPP in 2010. The Institute is a WHO
Collaborating Center for Mental Health Promotion, Prevention and
Policy. The website (English version) is at
www.thl.fi/en_US/web/en.
Voksne for Barn
GCAPP member Voksne for Barn (Adults for
Children), the host of the Fourth World Conference in Oslo, Norway,
is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010 with several special
activities.
On 1-2 November it will host an international
conference on the theme “Developing Strength and Resilience in
Children,” to be followed by a networking meeting on 3 November.
This is the second international meeting to be held by the
organization COPMI - Children with Mentally Ill Parents. The focus
will be on developing good schools that promote children’s wellbeing
and mental health, and on preventing mental health problems and
illness in children and adolescents at risk.
Earlier in the year Voksne for Barn held its
50th Anniversary Conference in Oslo. The theme of the meeting on 3-4
May 2010 was “Childhood under the Northern Lights.” The program
examined the requirements for a healthy childhood in Nordic
countries, and also the challenges faced by vulnerable children and
the children of refugee families. On the day after the conference
Queen Sonja of Norway attended a 50th anniversary celebration event.
The Carter Center Mental
Health Program
The Carter Center announced its 2010-2011
Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism on 9 July.
The awards provide selected journalists with intensive training
about mental health and a stipend. This year’s 10 recipients include
6 from the United States, two from South Africa and two from
Romania. Since 1997 the program has awarded more than 100
fellowships, and the recipients have produced over 300 stories,
documentaries, books and other works.
“Journalists have a very important role to
play in shaping the public’s perception of mental illnesses,” said
former First Lady and Carter Center Co-founder Rosalynn Carter. “If
a news piece or a book shows what mental illness is really like,
people will understand that mental illnesses happen to so many of
us, and fortunately, even the most serious mental illnesses can be
treated and most people can recover.”
Suicide Prevention
Mental Health America has launched a new
campaign for suicide prevention, and campaign material is posted on
the Internet (www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/suicide).
Education Development Center’s Suicide
Prevention Resource Center also has useful material at
http://www.sprc.org.
Preventing Violence
Preventing Violence Across the Lifespan
Research Network (the PreVAil Network) has placed three Research
Briefs on its new website (http://www.uwo.ca/fims/prevail). These
cover the following topics:
- Interventions to Prevent Child
Maltreatment
- Identifying and Responding to Intimate
Partner Violence Against Women
- Resilience and Mental Health Outcomes
TOP |
|
|
GLOBAL CONSORTIUM FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF PROMOTION AND
PREVENTION IN MENTAL HEALTH (GCAPP)
E-NEWSLETTER, MARCH 2009
GCAPP President
Professor Helen Herrman of ORYGEN Youth Health, Melbourne,
Australia and the University of Melbourne will serve as GCAPP’s
President until the Sixth World Conference on the Promotion of
Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Health in
2010. Professor Herrman is Publications Secretary of the World
Psychiatric Association and a
Board member of the World Federation for Mental Health. She
co-authored the World Health Organization report “Promoting Mental
Health: Concepts, Emerging Evidence, Practice” (Geneva, 2005).
New GCAPP Members
The Consortium welcomed three new member organizations in the
past year:
Voksne for Barn, a leading Norwegian NGO with a focus on
children’s issues, joined in September 2008. Voksne for Barn, headed
by Secretary General Randi Talseth, hosted the 2006 World Conference
on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and
Behavioral Disorders.
CASEL, the Collaborative for Social and Emotional Learning,
joined at the same time and also focuses on children’s healthy
development. CASEL is based in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and Dr. Roger
P. Weissberg is its president. Its programs for social-emotional
learning and mental health initiatives for schools are
internationally known (see
http://www.casel.org).
Mental Health America (http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net),
headed by Dr. David Shern, is a new member in 2009. Until 2007
Mental Health America was known as the National Mental Health
Organization. Mental health promotion and disorder prevention are
key items in its mission statement, and they were the subjects of a
special section of its annual conference in 2008. In 2009 the annual
conference will celebrate the organization’s centennial (for
information, see
www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/conference).
National Research Council/Institute of Medicine Report (USA)
A special program will be held from 1pm to 5pm at the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences on March 25 to give perspectives on the
forthcoming publication of the National Research Council/Institute
of Medicine report ”Preventing Mental, Emotional and Behavioral
Disorders Among Young People: Research Advances and Promising
Interventions.” The briefing will also be webcast from The National
Academies’ homepage (http://www.nationalacademies.org
).
The final NRC / IOM report will be published in May. The 576-page
volume is edited by Mary Ellen O’Connell, Thomas Boat and Kenneth E.
Warner. Information about the report is available on the Institute
of Medicine’s website http://www.iom.edu (click on “Boards” on the left-hand
menu and then on “NRC/IOM Board on Children, Youth, and Families,”
then on “Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse in
Children, Youth and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising
Interventions.”)
Pre-publication information is available via a link from the IOM
website to the National Academies Press website,
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12480 Several
options are available on the National Academies Press page. It is
possible to order a pre-publication copy (uncorrected proof) and/or
PDF; to pre-order a copy to be mailed after publication; and to read
the report online (it is divided into short sections that are easily
accessed). A pre-published copy costs $55.76, and a pre-ordered copy
is $47.66 (a pre-published copy and PDF bundled together cost
$77.50).
Address Change for the World Federation for Mental Health
At the start of March 2009 the World Federation for Mental Health
moved its offices. The new address, telephone number and fax number
are as follows:
World Federation for Mental Health
Suite 101
12940 Harbor Drive
Woodbridge, VA 22192-2930
USA
Tel: 703 494 6565
Fax: 703 494 6518
(The email addresses of staff members are unchanged.)
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth)
The State of Victoria, Australia, launched its new Mental Health
Strategy on 13 March 2009. The Strategy’s vision has a focus on
prevention, early intervention, recovery and social inclusion. Key
elements include promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, and
addressing mental health issues affecting children and youth. (For
information, go to
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/mentalhealth/index.htm).
In conjunction with the launch of the Strategy, the Victorian
Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) released the Melbourne
Charter, the outcome document finalized after the Fifth World
Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of
Mental and Behavioural Disorders (“From Margins to Mainstream,”
Melbourne, 10-12 September 2008). The Strategy’s information sheet
on mental health promotion referred to the development of the
Charter and praised VicHealth’s leading international role.
The latest issue of VicHealth’s newsletter, VicHealth Letter No.
34, is devoted to a report on the Fifth World Conference, providing
an overview of the issues that arose during its sessions. The
newsletter will be mailed to everyone who attended the conference,
together with a copy of the Melbourne Charter. The issue can be
downloaded at http://www.vichealth.gov.au
World Federation for Mental Health Congress
Athens, Greece, 2-6 September 2009
Professor Clemens M.H. Hosman, former chair of GCAPP, will give
the George Albee Memorial Lecture on Primary Prevention at the WFMH
Biennial Congress. Professor Hosman heads the Prevention Centre at
Radboud University Nijmegen and Maastricht University, the
Netherlands.
The WFMH Congress Host Organizing Committee is led by Professor
George Christodoulou, with the cooperation of the Society of
Preventive Psychiatry and the Hellenic Psychiatric Association. For
full details of the program, which covers many aspects of mental
health, go to http://www.wmhc2009.com
Clifford Beers Foundation Conference in Toronto
The Clifford Beers Foundation, working in conjunction with The
Mental Health Commission of Canada, held a conference on mental
health promotion in Toronto on 4-6 March 2009. The conference
covered both international and Canadian developments in the field.
It included a special track on mental health issues affecting First
Nations, Métis and Inuit people, with an emphasis on evidence-based
youth suicide prevention strategies. Recommendations based on
discussion at the conference will be forwarded to The Mental Health
Commission.
Eufami Conference on “The Forgotten Children”
Vilnius, Lithuania, 26-27 November 2009
This European conference on the children of parents with a mental
illness will cover many relevant issues, including mental health
promotion and disorder prevention initiatives to improve family
environments and support the mental health of children. The opening
plenary address will be given by Professor Tytti Solantaus from
Finland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare (formerly known
as STAKES). For information, go to
http://www.eufami.org
World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe and the
Mental Health Foundation,U.K.
The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe and
the Mental Health Foundation released a report in March 2009 on
“Mental Health, Resilience and Inequalities.” The report finds that
poor mental health “is both a consequence and cause of inequalities
and exclusion,” and is closely linked with social conditions.
Positive mental health is
associated with improved health and wellbeing, increased
life expectancy, and better performance at work. The implications
for policy and practice are considered, and one of the priorities
listed is “providing young people with education and employment
opportunities that promote and protect mental health.” The report
can be downloaded at
http://www.euro.who.int/mentalhealth/topics/20090309_1 and
also at http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk
Centre for Health Promotion, University of Toronto
The website of the University of Toronto Centre for Health
Promotion has posted a set of documents that originated from a Think
Tank on Mental Health Promotion organized by a group of Pan-Canadian
organizations in Calgary, Alberta, on 4 November 2008. The documents
were released at the Clifford Beers Foundation’s International
Conference on Health Promotion in Toronto on 3-5 March 2009.
The Pan-Canadian group commissioned a background paper called
“Toward Flourishing for All” to stimulate discussion at the
Alberta meeting. The paper reviewed mental health promotion policies
in several countries. A Companion Document for the meeting was also
produced, and afterwards the discussion and comments were written up
as “Toward Flourishing for All: Think Tank Proceedings.” Finally,
the group prepared a summary of the main recommendations to be
presented to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, called
“National Mental Health Promotion and Mental Illness Prevention –
Best Advice on a Policy for Canadians.” The set of four documents
can be found at
http://www.utoronto.ca/chp/mentalhealthpromotion
On the same web page there is a set of evidence-based best
practice guidelines for mental health promotion interventions for
children (ages 7-12) and youth (ages13-19).
Canadian Institute for Health Information
The Canadian Institute for Health Information has published a
report on “Improving the Health of Canadians: Exploring Positive
Mental Health.” The report considers positive mental health as a
component of overall health and mental health promotion, and reviews
research, data, programs and policy direction. Canadian mental
health programs for schools, parenting, the workplace and the
community are listed.
The full report and a summary of key findings in English and
French are available for download at
http://www.cihi.ca/cphi
AUSEINET
The Australian mental health education organization Auseinet has a
large database of more than 3,000 resources. Among the
evidence-based categories in the database are mental health
promotion, mental illness prevention, social determinants, standards
& indicators, and
statistics & data. Categories such as standards & indicators
include international material. Access the list from the direct link
http://www.auseinet.com/resourcedb/index.php
TOP
GLOBAL
CONSORTIUM FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF
PROMOTION AND
PREVENTION IN MENTAL HEALTH
E-NEWSLETTER, MAY 2008
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
Information about the program, registration
and hotels is available on the conference web site at
www.margins2mainstream.com, and in the special Melbourne
conference section of this web site. Early Bird registration
(Australian $480) closes on 16 June. Full registration will then be
A$600 until 15 July, after which it is A$696 until 9 September.
In addition to the regular topics in the
conference series (research; implementation; workforce development)
the program focuses on the determinants of mental health in relation
to promotion and prevention. The new topics are social
participation, violence, discrimination, economic participation, and
indigenous mental health. Program sessions will help to shape an
outcome document, the Melbourne Conference Charter, which is being
managed by a special leadership group. Participants will contribute
to its development throughout the conference.
Speakers include:
Dr. Margaret Barry, head of the Department of Health
Promotion, National University of Ireland, Galway
Dr. Morton Beiser, professor of psychiatry, University of
Toronto, Canada, founding director of the Toronto Centre of
Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS), and
national scientific coordinator, Reducing Health Disparities
Initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Judi Clements, CEO of the Mental Health Foundation of New
Zealand
Kate Gilmore, deputy director of Amnesty International,
activist for women’s human rights
Todd Harper, CEO of VicHealth, expert on tobacco control,
formerly executive director of the Tasmanian Council on AIDS and
Related Diseases
Dr. Helen Herrman, professor, ORYGEN Research Centre,
University of Melbourne and director, Who Collaborating Centre for
Mental Health, Melbourne
Dr. Rob Moodie, chair of global health, Nossal Institute of
Global Health, University of Melbourne
Dr. Carles Muntaner, chair of psychiatry and addictions
nursing research, Centre for Addictions and Mental Health,
University of Toronto, Canada
Dr. David Osher, an expert on educational equity, social and
emotional learning, and interventions for children and youth with
mental health problems
Shekhar Saxena, co-ordinator, mental health evidence and
research, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, WHO,
Geneva, Switzerland
Randi Talseth, secretary general of Voksne for Barn, Norway,
expert on children’s mental health
Meetings Held in Conjunction with the
Conference
- The member organizations of the Global
Consortium for the Advancement of Promotion and Prevention will
hold a meeting on 9 September in Melbourne.
- The Consortium of Health Promotion
Foundations will meet, hosted by VicHealth.
- VicHealth will present sessions of its
popular short course, Promoting Mental Health and Wellbeing,
before and after the conference. The dates of the two-day course
are 8/9 September, 13/14 September and 15/16 September.
- In collaboration with the International
Confederation of Principals and the Australian Principals
Association Professional Development Council, Intercamhs
(International Alliance on child and Adolescent Mental Health
and Schools) will hold a preconference meeting, “Mind Your Head:
Leading the Way to Healthy Minds and Health Schools.” The
full-day event on 8 September will discuss school culture and
mental health in a “town hall meeting” format that explores
issues through open discussion. For information, phone 618 8245
or 618 8245 9802, or email
kerry@apapdc.edu.au or
emma@apapdc.edu.au
TOP
European Union Mental
Health Pact
The European Commissioner for Health has
announced a project to launch a Mental Health Pact containing
proposals to develop mental health promotion across mental health,
education and the workplace. Action will be focused on 4 priority
areas:
- Prevention of Depression and Suicide
- Youth, Education and Mental Health
- Mental Health and Older People; and
- Mental Health in Workplace Settings
A fifth priority area, Combating Stigma and Social Exclusion,
will run through the other four thematic areas.
The Pact will be launched at a High-Level
Conference in Brussels on 13 June, attended by Ministers of Health
from EU Member States, and also Ministers of Employment and
Education.
A Coordinating Consortium has directed the
technical preparatory process leading up to the High-Level
Conference. It is led by the Health Department of the Government of
Catalonia, Spain, in collaboration with STAKES, Finland; the London
School of Economics and Political Science; and the Scottish
Development Centre for Mental Health. For information on
preparations for the conference see the web site at
www.ec-mental-health-process.net
Institute of Medicine Report
The Institute of Medicine Report, “Prevention
of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse among Children, Youth and
Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions” will be
released in the second half of 2008.
TOP
World
Federation for Mental Health (WFMH)
WFMH has published a monograph summarizing the
discussion and recommendations from its International Experts Forum
on “Building Awareness – Reducing Risk: Mental Illness and Suicide.”
The Forum brought together eighteen experts from nine countries in
2006 to provide a global perspective on the relationship between
mental illness and suicide. The monograph provides information on
the epidemiology of suicide in regions around the world, and on
suicide prevention.
WFMH signed a Memorandum of Understanding in
March 2008 with the Diversity Health Institute of Australia. The
Diversity Health Institute is a consortium of public health
organizations that work together to improve the health and wellbeing
of Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)
communities. WFMH and the DHI agreed to work together in a number of
areas, including mental health promotion and the prevention of
mental disorders.
The theme for WFMH’s 2008 World Mental Health
Day campaign is “Making Mental Health a Global Priority – Scaling Up
Services Through Citizen Advocacy and Action.” The campaign will
highlight the messages contained in The Lancet Series released in
September 2007 about the urgent need for improved mental health
care, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. It also
focuses on core values of the Federation in its 60th anniversary
year.
TOP
Thirteenth Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health:
Phoenix, Arizona, September 25-27, 2008
The University of Maryland Center for School
Mental Health, with the IDEA Partnership (see
www.ideapartnership.org),
is holding the 13th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental
Health, September 25-27, 2008, in Phoenix, Arizona. This
interdisciplinary conference will provide training and networking
opportunities on school mental health promotion. There are ten
separate conference tracks, corresponding to the ten practice groups
within the larger National Community of Practice on School Mental
Health (www.sharedwork.org).
These tracks are: 1) Connecting School Mental Health and
Positive Behavior Supports; 2) Connecting School
Mental Health with Juvenile Justice and Dropout Prevention; 3)
Education: An Essential Component of Systems of Care; 4)
Family-School-Community Partnerships; 5) Improving School Mental
Health for Youth with Disabilities; 6) Learning the Language:
Promoting Effective Ways for Interdisciplinary Collaboration; 7)
Mental Health-Education Training and Workforce; 8) Quality and
Evidence-Based Practice; 9) School Mental Health and Child Welfare;
10) Youth Involvement and Leadership. Conference details and
registration information are available at
http://csmh.umaryland.edu.
If you would like a printed brochure or to be added to the center’s
mailing list, please email Christina Huntley at
chuntley@psych.umaryland.edu.
TOP
The Clifford Beers
Foundation,UK
The second issue of Advances in School Mental
Health Promotion appeared in April 2008. This new journal is
published by The Clifford Beers Foundation in collaboration with the
University of Maryland School of Medicine Centre for School Mental
Health. This issue includes articles on “Preventing Depression in
Young People. What Does the Evidence Tell Us and How Can We Use It
to Inform School-based Mental Health Initiatives?”; “School Mental
Health and Foster Care: A Logical Partnership”; and “Predictors of
Bullying Among 10 to 11 Year Old School Students in Australia.”
Journal website:
www.schoolmentalhealth.co.uk; academic editor’s email address,
mweist@psych.unmaryland.edu; managing editor’s email address,
michael_murray@ charity.demon.co.uk
The Clifford Beers Foundation will host a
conference in Toronto, Canada, on 4-6 March 2009: “Expanding our
Horizons and Moving Mental Health Promotion into the Mainstream.”
Details will be posted shortly on the Foundation’s web site at
www.cliffordbeersfoundation.co.uk.
TOP
Intercamhs (International Alliance for Child and Adolescent
Mental Health and Schools)
Intercamhs and the International Confederation
of Principals have allied to develop a collaborative project called
Interconnexions that will promote the capacity of school leaders to
improve mental health, wellbeing and student learning in school
communities around the world. They have launched a global survey to
gather information about the type of entry-level material on mental
health and wellbeing that principals require for an understanding of
why mental health and wellbeing is important to students’ learning.
The survey results will help in the design of appropriate tools,
concepts, training and resources.
There are three ways principals can complete
the survey:
- Complete and submit the survey online
(preferred method) at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=MdLm53ndcvGabhbZlwHBuw_3d_3d.
- Download and complete the survey as a
Word document at
http://www.intercamhs.org/html/International_Survey_of_Principals.html,
save the file and send it as an email attachment to
intercamhs@edc.org.
- If respondents have limited access to a
reliable internet connection click on this link (http://www.intercamhs.org/html/International_Survey_of_Principals.html
) to download a Word or PDF version of the survey, print a paper
copy and fax to +1-617-527-4096.
Deadline for survey
submission is 30th May 2008. The survey takes roughly 15
minutes to complete. Further questions please email: Intercamhs
President A/Professor Louise Rowling (l.rowling@edfac.usyd.edu.au)
or Intercamhs Vice President Cheryl Vince Whitman (cvincewhitman@edc.org).
TOP
Other
Conference Dates
Mental Health America
Mental Health America will hold an Inaugural
Promotion and Prevention Summit on 6-7 June 2008 as part of its
annual conference. Featured speakers include Thomas Insel, Helen
Herrman, William McFarlane, William Beardslee and Gregor Henderson.
World Psychiatric Association
The WPA International Congress will take place
on 1-4 April 2009 in Florence, Italy. The theme is “Treatments in
Psychiatry: A New Update.” Information is available on the
conference web site, www.wpa2009florence.org.
International Union for Health Promotion and
Education (IUHPE)
The venue for the 20th IUHPE World Conference
in July, 2010 has been moved from Hong Kong to Geneva Switzerland.
Health Promotion Switzerland is the local partner and will be
co-chair of the Organizing Committee. Information will be posted on
its web site,
www.healthpromotion.ch and on the IUHPE web site,
www.iuhpe.org.
TOP |
|
|
E-NEWSLETTER, JANUARY 2008
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
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).
TOP
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).
TOP |
| |
|
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).
TOP
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
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).
TOP
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.
TOP
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.
TOP
|
| |
|
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
A preliminary planning session for the Fifth World Conference was
held in Melbourne in late February, attended by Lyn Walker and Irene Verins of the host organization VicHealth, other VicHealth staff
members, Michael Murray of The Clifford Beers Foundation, UK, and
Rob Moodie, co-chair of the Program Committee. Dr. Moodie takes up a
newly-created Chair in Global Health at the Nossal Institute of
Melbourne University this month.
TOP
WORLD FEDERATION FOR MENTAL HEALTH
Meeting on Multicultural Mental Health at
Dulles, Virginia, USA
Several WFMH programs for 2007 are connected with multicultural
mental health, and World Mental Health Day this year (10 October)
has the theme “Mental Health in a Changing World: The Impact of
Culture and Diversity.” On 28 February-1 March the Federation hosted
a small meeting of experts from eight countries at Dulles, Virginia,
to review relevant information for these programs. Among the
participants were Helen Herrman (Australia), Yu Xin (China) and
Shridhar Sharma (India), who had all participated in the plenary
program of the Fourth World Conference on the Promotion of Mental
Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders in Oslo.
The meeting focused on multicultural mental health issues within
countries, and also within cities that now have large populations of
immigrants and refugees from many different backgrounds. Among the
matters reviewed there was a discussion about undertaking
evidence-based research in low-income countries, and also about
finding ways to recognize the value of qualitative research and
anecdotal reporting from these countries. Some of the participants
felt that evidence-based research funded by Western agencies and
institutions in low-income countries could result in an “imbalance”
if the research process emphasized Western concepts. Participants
were also concerned about the difficulties encountered by
researchers from low-income countries in getting their work
published in mainstream scientific journals in the West.
TOP WFMH Biennial Mental Health Congress: Hong
Kong, SAR China,
19-23 August 2007
The 2007 WFMH World Mental Health Congress has the theme “East Meets
West: Impact of Culture on Mental Health.” The biennial conference
will take place on 19-23 August at the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University. Professor William Beardslee, who was a plenary speaker
at the Oslo conference, will give the Margaret Mead Memorial
Lecture. Professor Beardslee spoke in Oslo about programs for the
children of parents with mental illness. Also on the Congress
program, on 19 August, WFMH President-elect John Copeland will chair
a pre-Congress workshop on “Response to Mental Health Consequences
of Disasters.”
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.
TOP
WFMH Conference on Transcultural Mental Health
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 29-31 October 2007
WFMH will hold a conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA on 29-31
October 2007 on the theme “Transcultural Mental Health in a Changing
World: Building a Global Response.” The location was chosen because
the Minneapolis-St.Paul area has a history of receiving immigrants
from around the world – from Vietnam, Liberia, Somalia and many
other countries. It represents a situation found increasingly in
other cities, of multicultural populations that require special
knowledge and skills from service providers and a well-informed,
sympathetic response from policymakers. The conference will examine
the challenges this presents for those who need to access services
and those who provide them.
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.
TOP
New CD with Information for Young People About
Schizophrenia, to
Encourage Early Diagnosis and Treatment
A CD with information on “Recognizing and Understanding
Schizophrenia” in young adults will be available from the World
Federation for Mental Health in May. The material has been designed
as a resource for young adults in college or university, and also
their families and faculty members, and the health services at
colleges and universities. The CD contains simply presented fact
sheets that can be printed out for each group.
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.
TOP
THE
CLIFFORD BEERS FOUNDATION
“Kindling the Flame”: Conference in Perth,
Western Australia, 21-23 February, 2007
Some 300 people attended this international conference to discuss
local and international best practice and the latest developments in
the promotion of good mental health. The Conference was a joint
initiative between the Clifford Beers Foundation and the Mental
Health Promotion Action Link, a group that the Foundation had helped
to establish a number of years ago. As Parliamentary Secretary for
Health Sue Ellery said at the opening ceremony, “Partnerships like
this one are integral to the future of health service delivery in
this State,” and “We rely on these partnerships to plan and deliver
innovative, cost effective and high-quality health care services.”
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).
TOP
THE VICTORIAN HEALTH PROMOTION FOUNDATION
AUSTRALIA (VICHEALTH)
CURRENT ACTIVITY IN THE PROMOTION OF MENTAL HEALTH
Background
VicHealth is an Independent Statutory Body that fosters change in
the social, economic and physical environments that influence
health. Underpinning our work is the belief that health is a
fundamental human right: that everyone shares responsibility for
promoting health: and everyone should benefit from improved health
outcomes. VicHealth works with many sectors and partners in the
community to build opportunities for people to become informed,
learn new skills and have greater access to activities, as well as
to create environments that enable people to enjoy healthier lives.
TOP
VicHealth Mental Health and Wellbeing Program
Vic Health continues to set the promotion of mental health and
community wellbeing as a priority are of focus with approximately
eight million Australian dollars a year provided to develop and
support activity including:
- 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.
TOP
1. Social Inclusion
- 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.
TOP
The McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the
Promotion of Mental
Health and Community Wellbeing
The McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the
Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing is a policy
research centre which builds knowledge about the social, economic
and environmental determinants of mental health and wellbeing. The
Centre’s vision is ‘To be a catalyst for knowledge which strengthens
the foundations of healthy, just and sustainable communities and
builds social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing’. The Centre was
established in June 2006, and is housed within the School of
Population Health, in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health
Sciences at The University of Melbourne.
The McCaughey Centre works closely with and is
supported by VicHealth. The Centre’s current staffing profile
includes 11 academic staff, 2 administrative staff, and a number of
visiting appointments including a full time seconded officer from
the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Some recent McCaughey Centre
news items are included below.
TOP
Community Indicators Victoria, and the
Victorian Community Survey
Community Indicators Victoria (CIV), hosted by the McCaughey Centre,
is a collaborative project involving academics, government, and
community groups, and support from the Australian Bureau of
Statistics. The purpose of CIV is the development and use of local
community wellbeing indicators as the basis for informed, engaged
and integrated community planning and policy making. The project has
been established as a result of the Victorian Community Indicators
Project, which developed a framework of agreed community wellbeing
indicators to assist in local government planning. CIV builds on
this framework, and will incorporate existing administrative data
and a number of subjective measures through the new Victorian
Community Survey.
The Victorian Community Survey is now in the field, and is being
undertaken with at least 300 hundred respondents from each of
Victoria’s 79 Local Government Areas to establish a robust suite of
local indicators of health and wellbeing. The survey data will be
freely available via the McCaughey Centre’s Community Indicators
Victoria website, which is currently under construction and will be
launched in mid-2007. If you have any questions about the Victorian
Community Survey or Community Indicators Victoria project, please
forward these to Dr Melanie Davern at
mdavern@unimelb.edu.au.
TOP
WHO Age-Friendly Cities Project
The McCaughey Centre is pleased to be part of the World Health
Organisation’s (WHO) Age-Friendly Cities Project, managing the
Melbourne component of this 22-country collaboration with the
Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) and the Council of the
Ageing Victoria (COTA). The WHO Age-Friendly Cities project adopts a
locally-driven “bottom-up” approach starting with the experiences of
older persons by asking what is, and what is not, age-friendly, and
what can be done to improve their community’s age-friendliness.
Dr Kathleen Brasher was responsible for
coordinating the data collection and completing the Melbourne
project report, submitted to WHO in February 2007. Dr Brasher
recently participated in a meeting of the worldwide project team in
London, which brought together all of the leaders of "Age-Friendly
Cities Projects" collaborating with WHO in this initiative to review
the research results, and plan for the development and release of
the WHO Global Age Friendly Cities Guide in October. Dr Brasher
presented the Melbourne project findings to the London meeting, and
the project focus has now turned to the local dissemination of
results and next steps in collaboration with the international
project team network.
TOP
Further Information
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
TOP
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.
A contingent of members is participating in
the upcoming meeting of the International Union for
Health Promotion
and Education in Vancouver in mid-June. To learn more about Intercamhs or
to join, please visit
www.intercamhs.org
TOP
News from the Center for School Mental Health
Analysis and Action,
University of Maryland Baltimore, USA, a founding member of
Intercamhs
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.)
A highlight of the Center’s work is its annual
national conference on Advancing School Mental
Health, which usually
draws 800 or more participants from most U.S. states and a number of
other countries. If you would like to learn more about the center,
and/or its next conference in
Orlando, Florida, October 25-27, 2007,
please visit http://csmha.umaryland.edu.
TOP
INTERNATIONAL
UNION FOR HEALTH PROMOTION AND EDUCATION (IUHPE)
Conference in Vancouver, Canada, June 10-15, 2005
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).
For information on the conference and the
pre-conference session on mental health promotion,
go to the IUHPE
web site (www.iuhpe.org ) or the conference web site at
www.iuhpeconference.org.
TOP
OTHER NEWS
New book: Implementing Mental Health
Promotion,
edited by Margaret Barry and Rachel Jenkins (376 pages)
This book provides a practical guide to implementing mental health
promotion programs with different population groups across a range
of settings. It shows how information from research can be used in
program development and best practice. The text takes a “how to”
approach, combining current research with practical advice on
planning and supporting programs. Examples of successful
international programs are given, with a discussion of how they were
implemented, and case studies of project development from different
countries are provided to illustrate issues that arise in real life.
Copies can be ordered from the Elsevier web site:
http://intl.elsevierhealth.com/catalogue/title.cfm?ISBN=044310025X#toc
TOP
To contact the GCAPP Interim Secretariat,
direct inquiries to Dr Elena Berger at
eberger@wfmh.com , or by
telephone at +1-410-938-3180. |
|
