World Conference focuses on mental health

A University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Academic has returned from the 4th World Mental Health Conference in Oslo, Norway, with plenty of ideas for improving the University's Indigenous Australian Mental Health programs.

Bill McCann is an Associate Lecturer in the Kumbari/Ngurpai Lag Higher Education Centre at USQ and presented a Poster Presentation at the prestigious conference, held in October.

'Three hundred and seventy delegates attended the conference from all over the world, including countries as diverse as Scotland, New Zealand, China, Greece, USA, South Africa and the Netherlands,' Mr McCann said.

'At the conference,I gave a Poster Presentation about our new Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Mental Health and Well-Being (GCIW), which was very well received.'

As Program Manager for the GCIW, Mr McCann's expertise lies in educating Health professionals about the need to treat Indigenous Australian clients in a holistic manner, and not in isolation from their particular culture.

'The primary aim of my attendance at the conference was to gather information and make valuable contacts for the continued development of USQ's Indigenous Australian Mental Health programs and courses,as well as to promote the new Graduate Certificate program.

'The conference was extremely beneficial. I gained so much personally and professionally in that it gave me a perspective on what is happening worldwide in general, and, specifically, in regard to world indigenous communities.'

Mr McCann said the South African experience was particularly interesting to him.

'Two of the most interesting talks were  by Psychiatrist Dr Brian Robertson from South Africa. In his first talk, he spoke on Cultural Competence in Mental Health Practice and, in his second, he explored the notion of Psychiatry collaborating with traditional healers.'

'I felt there were many similarities between here and South Africa and we could benefit from the research being undertaken there in various areas.'

Noteworthy among a number of Plenary Sessions was an address by Dr David Satcher, an Afro-American, who has the honour of being the only person to have ever held the positions of Surgeon-General and Secretary of Health simultaneously in the United States. He drew attention to the urgent need to bridge the gap between what we know and what we ought to do in relation to mental health promotion and the prevention of mental health problems and disorders.

The conference also looked to the future.

'I liked the emphasis on the development of programs for young people. For example, in Greece there is an innovative program to educate primary school students about emotional health and well-being; there is a Norwegian intervention initiative to promote mental health in high schools and also our own Australian MindMatters project, which is a comprehensive approach to mental health in schools.

'In general, the conference indicated that the emphasis in the future will be on promotion of mental health and prevention of mental health problems and disorders.'

The GCIW is available at USQ from 2007. Please phone 1800 811 380 to find out more information about the program.

Media Contact: Amy Cass, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2092 or +61 412 097 326