14th International Mental Health Conference

The 14th International Mental Health Conference will be held at Outrigger, Surfers Paradise on Monday the 5th and Tuesday the 6th of August 2013.  Optional workshops will be held on Wednesday the 7th of August. The conference will focus on the complex mental health issues of Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Dementia. 

The human, social and economic consequences of mental health disorders and illness are great, and there is a growing realisation of the serious limitations of focusing solely on treatment and rehabilitation. Addressing these factors to improve mental health requires that many organisations from diverse sectors within the community recognise how they can and do contribute to the promotion of mental health and wellbeing.

Featuring Australia and New Zealand’s finest clinical practitioners, academics, and mental health experts, the conference will motivate and inspire professionals (and future professionals) by sharing information about;

• On-going research and findings
• New knowledge developments: implementation of programs and strategies.
• Latest evidence and guidelines on early diagnosis and successful patient management.
• New treatments.
• Research validation of early intervention strategies and treatments.
• Prevention Strategies: examine and review effectiveness
• Translational Research – from lab bench to the clinic and individual patient.
• Discussion on research and best practice

Keynote addresses, submitted papers, workshops and case studies will examine how approaches and techniques can be incorporated into daily practise.

The conference streams will focus on Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Dementia and address;

• Primary Interventions
• Promoting Recovery
• Preventing Relapse
• Policy Initiatives

Confirmed Speakers

• Dr Philip LP Morris – President Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association
• Professor Philip Mitchell – Professor and Head of the School of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales; Convenor of Brain Sciences UNSW; Chair of the NSW Mental Health Priority Taskforce; Consultant Psychiatrist, Black Dog Institute, Sydney; Guest Professor, Shanghai Jaitong University; and Board Member of the Anika Foundation.
• Professor Elizabeth Beattie – Director of the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre (DCRC) – Carers and Consumers (based within the School of Nursing at QUT).
• Professor Michael Berk – Chair in Psychiatry at Deakin University. Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and the Mental Health Research Institute.
• Professor Cynthia Shannon Weickert – , BA Mphil PhD – Macquarie Group Foundation Chair of Schizophrenia Research – Faculty – Department of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales

• Peer Review Advisory Panel: