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EPA 2025, 33rd European Congress of Psychiatry
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2024, EPA Congress Recap
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Save the date for 2025
EPA25, 33rd European Congress of Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain 5-8 April 2025
EPA2025, Madrid, Spain 5-8 April 2025
Summer School
European Youth Center, Strasbourg 12-15 September 2024
New Section, Partnerships and More
The EPA section on sexual Orientations and Gender Identities Is Launched
EU Policy & Advocacy News
10th EPA Forum
Upcoming Events 2024
4-8 May 2024 – New York City, USA & online
22-23 May 2024 – Brussels, Belgium
21-22 June – Vilnius, Lithuania
29 June to 2 July – Helsinki, Finland
EPA 2024 Summer School
23-25 September – Antwerp, Belgium
2023, The November Newspage
Following the success of the first two webinars dedicated to NPAs and their association members, we are pleased to share the video recording of the online events.
Watch the video-recordings below:
EPA 40th Anniversary Event: Wednesday 6 December (13:30 to 15:00 CET)
To mark its 40th anniversary, the EPA is organising an event taking place in the EU Parliament to discuss matters of relevant at EU level. A reminder that anyone wishing to attend the EU Parliament event online should register by completing the below Form as “Guest” by 30 November EOB. View the event’s agenda here.
https://forms.gle/j3qgMGh3NDdjK8N19
EPA Telepsychiatry Toolkit
We encourage all mental health professionals to use the EPA Digital Toolkit in their everyday practice. The toolkit provides basic standards of telemental health care: its history, essential skills, advantages and contraindications, legal and administrative issues, emergencies, mobile modalities, patient’s privacy protection, and more. This tool is free for EPA paid-up members and can be accessed here. Feel free to share this news in your own language with your network or click HERE.
Facing Ethical Dilemmas as a Psychiatrist
Registrations are now open for the upcoming webinar on « Ethical Dilemmas as a Psychiatrist » with Dr. Rutger Jan van der Gaag and Prof. Jan Wise together with Dr. Meryam Schouler-Ocak, chair of the Committee on Ethical Issues of the EPA. The discussions will take place on Tuesday 6 February from 14:30 to 15:30 (CET) and will feature the topics of « Mental Pain and Suffering » and « Termination of Pregnancy ». Join experts for this 1-hour exchange by registering HERE !
2024 NPAs Call for Fees
Last not but least, we had the pleasure to launch of the 2024 NPAs Call for Fees at the end of October.
The benefits of NPAs membership include the right to participate in key meetings such as the EPA Council of NPAs, the EPA General Assembly (with full voting rights) and in EU-level policy events. Please direct any queries related to NPAs membership to Mélanie Rieder at melanie.rieder@europsy.net.
2023, The July Newspage
First Webinar Organised for National Psychiatric Associations – Register to Attend the Online Event on 25 September
As mentioned in the last Council of NPAs meeting, one of the planned activities of the NPA Steering Committee is the organisation of online meetings/webinars. We are pleased to inform you that the first event will take place on Monday, 25 September from 15:00 to 16:30 CEST with the participation of Prof. Antonio Vita on the topic of “Psychosocial Treatments of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: State of the Art and Problems in their Application in Common Clinical Practice. A European Perspective”.
This 1.5-hour exchange will start with a short presentation followed by a Q&A session with participants. The talk will deal with evidence regarding the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in schizophrenia, the importance of integrating them with pharmacological treatments as well as presenting the obstacles and difficulties in their implementation.
Prof. Antonio Vita is a full Professor, Chair of Psychiatry and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, at the University of Brescia in Italy. In addition, Prof. Vita is heading the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services at the Spedali Civili Hospita in Brescia. He is currently the Vice-President of the Italian Psychiatric Association, as well as the Co-chair of the EPA Section on Schizophrenia.
Please mark down the date in your calendar and register today by clicking here. We look forward to seeing as many of you participating in this exciting event and encourage you to invite your association members.
Call for Interest – NPA Representative to Join the Task Force on Sections
The Steering Committee of the Council of NPAs is looking for a motivated individual to join the Task Force on Sections to represent all NPAs. The successful candidate will be an EPA member as well as an Official Representative of an NPA. The role will entail participating in Task Force meetings as well as other activities that aim at increasing interaction and collaboration between the work of NPAs and the work of Sections. More information about the Sections Task Force is available here: https://www.europsy.net/general-task-forces/
Anyone interested should send their CV and detail their motivation and readiness to work in 100-200 words to melanie.rieder@europsy.net by Monday, 4 September 2023. The Steering Committee will then consider all applications and may schedule a virtual call to discuss further.
Help us Disseminating the EPA Ambassadors Survey 2023
In March 2023, the EPA launched the fourth edition of its Ambassadors Programme, a series of annual surveys aimed at building a comprehensive database of information on mental health practices from around Europe and from within different mental health disciplines. Thanks to your help with the previous Ambassadors Surveys, more than 1,000 replies were collected from all over Europe, which resulted in the elaboration of Manuscripts published in the European Psychiatry Journal. The fourth Ambassadors Survey is still open and it focuses on Schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Similarly to what was done for the previous Surveys, we will soon contact you individually to ask your kind help with distributing the survey and collecting replies from at least 20 professionals in your country.
2023, May Newspage
The EPA launches its fourth Ambassadors Survey
As mentioned in the recent Council of NPAs meeting, the EPA has launched the fourth edition of its Ambassadors Programme. Started in 2020, this initiative aims at establishing a database of information on mental health practices and perspectives from within different mental health disciplines around Europe. This year’s questionnaire focuses on Schizophrenia spectrum disorders and it will take around 25 minutes to complete. Please fill in the survey and share your views and experience on the topic. Read more and complete the 2023 EPA Ambassadors Survey.
Merger of Psychiatric Hospitals with General Hospitals in Israel
The Israel Psychiatric Association has set up a committee dealing with psychiatric hospitalisations which is led by Prof. Yuval Melamed, President of the NPA in Israel. Prof. Melamed believes that the concept of merging psychiatric hospitals with general hospitals to create unified health centres is an essential one. The Israel Psychiatric Association would like to learn from the experience of those whose psychiatric hospitals have merged with or are affiliated to general hospitals in order to see first-hand how the merger/affiliation has been accomplished.
Please contact Prof. Melamed directly to share your experience at yuval.melamed@abr.health.gov.il.
Launch of the EPA Section on Public Mental Health
The EPA is pleased to welcome a new Scientific Section on Public Mental Health (PMH). The first initiative of the Section is to start a survey on PMH in collaboration between the EPA, WONCA, GAMIAN and WPA. The overarching aim of this study is to explore PMH understanding, engagement, practice, key barriers and opportunities, and training in order to inform discussions and future planning. The study is targeting several key stakeholder groups (mental health professionals, policy makers, public health professionals, primary care practitioners, and people with experience of mental health conditions).
Your participation in this study would help bring us closer to an understanding of current public mental health work, training and opportunities. Thank you in advance for filling in the survey and sharing it with your networks.
The link of the study is: https://qualtrics.kcl.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_5ot5RgjEMgRh7T0
NPAs Group Registration for the EPA Telepsychiatry Toolkit
The EPA Education Committee is pleased to announce its new online module is now available: the EPA Telepsychiatry Toolkit is open to all interested participants and free for EPA paid-up members. Directed by Prof. Volpe and Prof. Hilty, the first part covers the Basics of Telepsychiatry and the second deals with all Specific Issues that may arise when using this method.
Should your NPA be interested to cover the registration fees (40€/person) for several of your members, please note that it is possible to proceed with a group enrolment (minimum 20 participants). Please contact lara.lenoan@europsy.net for more information.
Living with Schizophrenia: Hearing the Different Perspectives”: Register to Attend the Webinar on 24
GAMIAN-Europe, in collaboration with the EPA, is organising a joint online event on 24 May at 11:00 CEST to present the findings of the two-year project that looks at strengthening and improving the therapeutic relationship between patients with schizophrenia and their psychiatrists. The webinar ”Living with schizophrenia: hearing the different perspectives” will see the participation of patients, carers, practitioners and policy-makers. Register here to attend the online event.
Online Talks with Experts – Save the Date for our Next Session!
The EPA Early Career Psychiatrists Committee has teamed up with the EPA Section on Psychopharmacology for the third Online Talks with Experts session. Join our expert, Prof. Dr. István Bitter, Professor of Psychiatry in Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary, for an inspiring discussion on “Pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia”!
More information available on the dedicated webpage.
2023, February newspage
Council of National Psychiatric Associations at EPA2023 in Paris – Agenda
The EPA Council of National Psychiatric Associations (NPAs) meeting, the EPA General Assembly and the EPA Forum will take place during the 31st European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris, France.
Please find enclosed the proposed agenda for the Council of NPAs meeting. As indicated in the agenda, we have allocated time to include contributions from NPAs who wish to communicate some specific information regarding activities or needs for the upcoming period.
NPAs Council Meeting – Agenda 25 March 2023
Please contact us before Monday 13 March if you are willing to say a few words and if you wish to include any slides in the general presentation so that we can plan accordingly.
Call for Applications for the Election of the Steering Committee (2023 to 2025 mandate)
Please remember that applications for the positions of Vice-chair and Secretary of the Steering Committee may be received until Friday 24 February 2023 at midnight. Candidates should send their application by e-mail to Mélanie Rieder at melanie.rieder@europsy.net.
Activities 2023 – 2024
The Steering Committee intends to schedule a series of webinars on topics of common interest over the next 2 years. We would like to know the level of interest and the type of involvement that you and your Association may be willing to have in the various topics proposed.
Kindly provide your input by filling out this very brief survey before Friday, 10 March 2023:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NPAwebinars
2022, October newspage
Extraordinary Council of NPAs Meeting – 16 December 2022
You should have received an invitation letter to an extraordinary meeting of the EPA Council of NPAs on Friday, 16 December 2022 from 9:00 to 13:00 CET in Brussels. The overall aim of this exceptional Council of NPAs meeting is to gather more in-depth information on the cooperation between the EPA and the Council of NPAs, as well as to help develop a plan to improve integration and collaboration.
We would be grateful if you could confirm your participation via this online reply form by Wednesday, 19 October 2022 to help us finalise the logistics for the meeting.
Help Break the Barriers to the Professional Development of Psychiatrists
The Early Career Psychiatrists Committee is conducting a multi-national study to identify attitudinal and institutional barriers to the professional development of psychiatrists and to compare these barriers between males and females. Psychiatrists and psychiatric trainees from all career stages are welcome to fill in and share their experiences in the brief survey below.
Please participate in this 5-min survey and/or share the link widely within your network.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Barriers_to_the_professional_development_of_psychiatrists
EPA 2023 Research Prizes and Scholarship Programme
Research Prizes
The EPA will award Research Prizes of €2 000 each to early career psychiatrists working in the WHO Europe region, who have published the best scientific papers in 2022 in selected categories.
Deadline for applications: 17 October 2022
Visit the Research Prizes page for more information about the prizes and eligibility criteria.
Early Career Psychiatrists Scholarship Programme
This programme is open to early career psychiatrists who are either trainees or within 5 years of completion of specialist training in psychiatry working in countries of the WHO Europe region. Selected candidates for the EPA Scholarship Programme will receive 2023 European Congress of Psychiatry registration and other exclusive advantages.
Deadline for applications: 21 November 2022
Find out more about the ECP Scholarships Programme on the EPA website.
2023 NPAs Call for Fees
Last not but least, I have the pleasure to announce the launch of the 2023 NPAs Call for Fees. Please expect to receive an individual email with more information sometimes next week.
The benefits of NPAs membership include the right to participate in key meetings such as the EPA Council of NPAs, the EPA General Assembly (with full voting rights) and in EU-level policy events. Please direct any queries related to NPAs membership to Mélanie Rieder at melanie.rieder@europsy.net.
2022, August Newspage
Let’s Make 2023 The European Year Of Mental Health
Ms Maria Walsh, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) (EPP Group) and Co-Chair of the MEP Alliance for Mental Health, has launched a petition for making 2023 the European Year for Mental Health. In the frame of this campaign, MEP Maria Walsh calls for “mental health to be urgently tackled by cross-sectional and integrated policies, as part of a comprehensive EU Mental Health Strategy, a European Care Strategy and a European Year dedicated to Mental Health in 2023”. The petition will run until 8 September 2022, read more, share it and sign it here: https://www.epp4youth.eu/mental-health/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=ap_l9isdfslr2
Ambassadors Survey: Still Open!
The EPA Ambassadors Survey 2022 is still open! This year’s questionnaire focuses on trauma-related diagnosis and treatment and it takes around 10 minutes to complete: please share the survey with your network of colleagues and fill the survey by clicking on: https://www.europsy.net/advocacy/epa-ambassadors-programme/
Join Us to Discuss Ethical Principles and Dilemmas in Psychiatry
The EPA Code of Ethics intends to guide the ethical practice of psychiatry by offering a comprehensive approach to the ethical challenges in the field. It highlights universal ethical principles and considers their application to the specific practice of psychiatry. Ethical questions in psychiatric practice are manifold: tensions between respect for autonomy versus care and protection from harm, problems with coercive therapy and capacity for judgement etc.
On Wednesday 7 September 2022, the Committee on Ethical Issues, the Early Career Psychiatrists Committee and the NPAs Steering Committee will join forces during an online webinar to discuss ethical principles and dilemmas in psychiatry and you are invited!
Learn more about the speakers and programme here and feel free to share the information with your colleagues.
EPA Gaining Experience Programme: Now Accepting Applications
The EPA is offering young psychiatrists a unique opportunity to discover renowned institutions all across Europe with the 2022-2023 Gaining Experience Programme. Applications are open until 12 September! Please check the list of placement offers and share the news with your network: https://www.europsy.net/gaining-experience-programme/
EBRA Cluster Events
On 21 and 22 September, the PSMD and BRAINFOOD Clusters, established in the frame of the EU-funded EBRA project, will organise two events to present their activities:
- 21 September (13:00 -17:30 CEST): The EBRA Prevention of Severe Mental Disorders (PSMD) Cluster holds a hybrid meeting in Brussels and online, to highlight the urgent need to address the lack of parity between mental and physical health in European funding and to aid navigation of barriers to the implementation of precision psychiatry. Find more information and the full programme, please click here.
- 22 September (13:00 – 15:00 CEST): The EBRA BRAINFOOD Cluster holds a hybrid meeting in Brussels and online to discuss the societal impact of the mechanisms underlying nutritional effects on brain health, improved education and communication about healthy nutrition and the policy responsibility of improving nutrition. Please click here to find more information and the full programme.
Minutes of the EPA2022 Council of NPAs Meeting
Last but not least, we are pleased to enclose in this email the minutes from the Council of NPAs meeting, which took place during EPA2022. EPA2022 Council of NPAs Meeting_Approved Minutes
2022, July Newspage
EPA Leaders Presenting at NPAs Congresses
A successful Symposium took place during the 47th Congress Polish Psychiatrist in Łódź, Poland. Meryam Schouler Ocak and Silvana Galderisi were invited to present the EPA Code of Ethics for Psychiatrists. A summary of the event can be found here: https://www.europsy.net/the-epa-code-of-ethics-presented-at-the-47th-congress-of-polish-psychiatrists/
Martina Rojnic Kuzman and I will participate in the 49th National Congress of the Italian Psychiatric Association in Genoa, Italy, later this year. The Congress is themed around “The integration of psychosocial and pharmacological treatments in severe mental disorders”. The preliminary programme can be found at: https://genova22.psichiatria.it/
The Society of Georgian Psychiatrists will host a thematic Congress on the “Treatment and Management of Mental Disorders in a Post-pandemic Era” in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Congress is organised by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and hosted by the Society of Georgian Psychiatrists (SGP) with the support of the Alliance for Better Mental Health (ABMH) and the Foundation Global Initiative on Psychiatry (GIP-Tbilisi). Geert Dom and Simavi Vahip will represent the EPA.
We would be grateful if you could spread the information about this event among your colleagues: https://wpatbilisicongress.com/
Ambassadors Programme: Take Part in the EPA 2022 Ambassadors Survey
Started in 2020, the EPA Ambassadors Programme operates as a series of surveys aimed at engaging psychiatrists and mental health professionals to shape better mental health policies and programmes in Europe. With the results of the surveys launched in 2020 and 2021, two papers were elaborated for publication in the European Psychiatry Journal (more information on the initiative and the previous surveys can be found here: https://www.europsy.net/advocacy/epa-ambassadors-programme/).
The EPA has launched the third edition of its Ambassadors Programme: this year’s questionnaire focuses on trauma-related diagnosis and treatment and it takes just around 10 minutes to complete. Please take part in the 2022 Ambassadors Survey and help share it with your network of colleagues: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K3QJ8HD
ECP Survey on Barriers to Professional Development
The EPA Early Career Psychiatrists Committee is conducting a multi-national study to identify attitudinal and institutional barriers to the professional development of psychiatrists and to compare these barriers between males and females.
Psychiatrists and psychiatric trainees from all career stages are welcome to fill in and share their experience in the 5-minutes survey. Please participate in this survey and share the link widely within your network: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Barriers_to_the_professional_development_of_psychiatrists
Extended Deadline – EPA Gaining Experience Programme 2022-2023
The EPA Gaining Experience Programme is a unique chance for Early Career Psychiatrists to interact with high profile psychiatrists in institutions all across Europe. For the 2022-2023 edition, there are still opportunities to become a host institution: the deadline for placement offers is now extended until 20 July 2022! If your institution is interested in offering a placement to a young psychiatrist, please simply complete this online form by Wednesday, 20 July: https://forms.gle/kNHPNnN7WpJuRaQ98
For more information, please see the information for Host Institutions and do not hesitate to contact Coline Godard at epa.gep@europsy.net.
A Special Thank
The Romanian Association of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy has offered 10 free participation places to Ukrainian colleagues to attend the Romanian Congress of Psychiatry, an online event taking place on 12-15 July 2022.
In addition, Ukrainians will benefit from free registration to attend the International conference ‘Rethinking Mental Health Care – Inclusion, Access, Respect, Dignity’, taking place in Vilnius on 8-10 September 2022. Transportation will be organised from Lviv to Vilnius on 6 September to allow professionals to participate in a special workshop on war-related trauma before the conference. This workshop will be with Ukrainian simultaneous interpretation.
More information can be found here: www.rethinkingmnh.org.
EPA 2023
Last but not least, we are pleased to confirm that the next EPA Congress will take place in Paris on 25-28 March 2023.
Please note that the submission period for Programme Courses, Symposia and Workshops is open and accessible on the Congress website: https://epa-congress.org/. The deadline for submission is 31 July.
Feel free to share the good news with your colleagues!
2022, April Newspage
Council of National Psychiatric Associations at EPA2022 will now be fully virtual
The 30th European Congress of Psychiatry will take place as a fully virtual meeting on the same dates – 4 to 7 June 2022. As such, the EPA Council of National Psychiatric Associations (NPAs) meeting, the EPA General Assembly and the EPA Forum will all be virtual meetings. The dates and times of the meetings remain unchanged and as such, the Council of NPAs will still take place on Saturday, 4 June from 14:00 to 17:00 CEST. The Zoom link will be sent closer to the date.
Fund for Ukraine
We have set up a fund to help our Ukrainian colleagues and Ukrainians with mental health problems. Here is a short video including Prof. Falkai and Prof. Samochowiec introducing the EPA Fund for Ukraine. We have already raised over €18 000 but more is needed. Donations can be made via this direct PayPal link or by bank transfer to:
Account Name: European Psychiatric Association; Bank Name: CIC Strasbourg Nuée Bleue, France; IBAN (EUR account): FR76 3008 7330 0100 0102 1870 183
SWIFT: CMCIFRPP; Please quote “UKR Solidarity” in the remittance reference
Call for expression of interest for the constitution of two new EPA Scientific Sections
Professor Falkai and the EPA Executive Committee members have recently expressed their motivation to create two new Sections on the topics of “Climate Change and Mental Disorders” and “Public Mental Health”. Before formally setting up these two new Sections, we need to engage experts and interested colleagues to build up the Sections. We are therefore looking for individuals with an expertise or a strong interest in these two topics.
We are inviting members of NPAs to indicate their interest to join one of these Sections to melanie.rieder@europsy.net by Monday, 9 May 2022. Read the full Call for Applications here.
EPA Survey on Digitalisation in European Psychiatry
In order to facilitate discussion and collaboration on how digital technology might offer psychiatry the potential for radical change in terms of service delivery and the development of new treatments, a questionnaire gathering information on Digitalisation in European Psychiatry has been launched. Over 25 NPAs have responded so far and we would be grateful if all NPAs could please share with us practices on this issue in your country by filling the questionnaire below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DigitalisationNPAs
Open Consultation on the Shared European Brain Research Agenda
The EU-funded project “European Brain Research Area (EBRA)” has released an open consultation on the Shared European Brain Research Agenda (SEBRA). The aim of the SEBRA is to provide recommendations on future areas for excellent, innovative and translational brain research. You are all invited to take part in the open consultation, more information can be found on the EBRA website.
