Mental Health Conference 2014

Creating Sustainable Mental Health Systems in Sierra Leone

Mental Health Coalition – Sierra Leone

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We are putting out a call for volunteers to join as speakers at the Mental Health Conference 2014 put on by the Mental Health Coalition – Sierra Leone. This year’s conference will take place on March 18, 2014, in Freetown, Sierra Leone. For more information on previous year’s conferences or the Mental Health Coalition – Sierra Leone, please see: www.enablingaccesstomentalhealthsl.com.

 

This year’s conference is supported by three themes, each of which is outlined below:

 

Theme 1           Sustainable: systems approach to all contributions

Examples: sustainable training initiatives; involvement and integration into existing government structures; skill building that fits career progression pathways; local ownership; training initiatives coupled with sustained supervision; strengthening public procurement of drugs and supplies.

 

Theme 2           Holistic: balance of addressing service users and families’ social, spiritual and biomedical needs

 

Theme 3           Culturally-relevant: ensuring that an understanding of the socio-cultural aspects of mental health are integrated into the approach to care

 

Each theme will have a presentation on the conceptual aspect and a second presentation on a case study. A conceptual presentation will focus on the theme itself and explain its context in sustainable mental health systems generally. A case study presentation will focus on an example, ideally from Sierra Leone or other West African settings, of the theme being applied in the context of mental health care/systems. Therefore, we are looking for six speakers to fill non-paid presentation slots of 15 minutes each.

 

Please take note that the target audience for this conference includes policy-makers, stakeholders, service users and families, researchers, and the general public. Therefore, we ask that our speakers tailor their presentations’ content and style to such an assembly.

 

If you would like to be considered for one of the speaker positions, please send an abstract of your presentation [approx. 250 words], indicating the theme and choice of concept/case study you would like to present, with a short bio of the speaker [approx. 100 words] to mhcslconf@gmail.com.

 

PDF, MS Word or text documents are acceptable. Please include your name in the document title as follows: Patrick-Taylor.pdf

 

The deadline for receipts of submissions is Feb. 24^th, 2014, at 5 PM GMT.

 

We especially encourage Sierra Leoneans and persons from the West African region to apply.

We look forward to hearing from all interested and greatly appreciate your support.

It’s back! The Annual Sierra Leone Mental Health Conference, organized by the Mental Health Coalition – Sierra Leone, is being planned for March 18th, 2014. Be sure to save the date and watch this space for more information!