Welcome
We look forward to welcoming you to IEPA14, the 14th International Conference on Early Intervention in Mental Health and IEPA’s first in person conference in 5 years, with our last conference held in Boston in 2018. Our conference theme for this year is ‘Early Intervention in a Changing World”. Early intervention strategies have emerged over the last 30 years and have spread worldwide. Now, the world is changing and new challenges emerge. The impact of climate change, wars and the pandemic on mental health urgently require attention. There is growing recognition of the effects of domestic violence, trauma, colonization, racism, discrimination and stigma on mental health. We need to develop early intervention strategies that are culturally competent, safe and appropriate to all regions of the world. And, although not entirely new, the increasing role taken by peer-practitioners has an influence on the way programs function and how service-users relate to them.
In this conference, we will devote space and time to all these aspects. We aim to promote discussions about the need to adapt our programs to these new areas. To encourage rich discussion, this year, for the first time, we are asking symposia submissions to outline how they plan to include researchers with lived experience and from under-represented racial, geographical and disability groups.
We encourage you all to attend, participate and debate this broad range of issues. Let’s ensure that early intervention in mental health is a key component as we face these challenges.
Professor Philippe Conus Professor Eoin Killackey Professor Alison Yung
Conference Convenor IEPA President IEPA President Elect