“Sharing experiences in transcultural settings and practices throughout Europe in the field of health and mental health”
The WPA Section on Transcultural Psychiatry (WPA-TPS) has succeeded in joining Northern and Southern Europe by holding a joint conference with the DTPPP. The conference title is “Sharing experiences in transcultural settings and practices throughout Europe in the field of health and mental health” and will be held on 9-10 February 2013 in Hamm, Germany. The main language for the conference is English.
Over the past 25 years, several approaches and experiences for the reception and care of migrants and refugees have developed in Europe. Whether it be for physical, mental and social care, it would be very fruitful to compare our respective practices in the field of clinical research and training of healthcare professionals. The goal is essentially to learn best practices in terms of care from each other, to avoid stigma and cultural stereotyping of patients.
The Section will organize two symposia and a plenary session. One of the symposiums will be on “Sharing practices between Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria” and the other symposium is on “Sharing practices in transcultural psychiatry in France and Spain”. Ron Wintrob, Honorary Member of the WPA-TPS, will be giving a paper in the Plenary Session.
The WPA-TPS is also participating in the first European Congress for Social Psychiatry organised by the Swiss Society for Social Psychiatry and co-sponsored by the World Association for Social Psychiatry (WASP) which will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 4-6 July 2012. The WPA-TPS will be co-sponsoring a symposium titled “Migration and mental health”, chaired by Marianne Kastrup and Levent Küey.
Speakers at the symposium: 1. M. Kastrup “Depression in the era of migration”. 2. L. Küey “Breaking the mirrors: Stigma against “the other” in the context of migration and mental health”. 3. N. Munyandamutsa “Acquiring an existence to face the other: the role of tenacity of memory in an excluded population”. 4. R. Bennegadi “Confrontations of explanatory models and mental health”.
Rachid Bennegadi
Former Chair, WPA Section on Transcultural Psychiatry