InterCAMHS :: Events

International Meeting Report

Forty three delegates from around the world gathered in Portland, Oregon, in October for Intercamhs’ first international meeting. The discussions served to highlight many of the most pressing issues in child and adolescent mental health worldwide.

Members’ presentations about their work covered a wide range of services and programmes – from a study of over-indulged children in Canada, to a mental health promotion programme for teenagers in New Zealand; from a mental health awareness campaign in Iceland, to concern about the mental health of schoolteachers in Germany. Click here to read a summary of all the presentations.

Seated from left: Michael Murray, Mark Weist – Board Liaison Officer, Louise Rowling – President, and Dóra Guðrun Guðmundsdóttir – Secretary

Standing from left: Elizabeth Moore – Project Associate, Pauline Dickinson, Mary Byrne, Leyla Ismayilova, Cheryl Vince Whitman, Peter Paulus, Chris Bale and Katherine Weare

Two of the key points to emerge from the meeting were the need for common language and key terms in mental health and the need for better exchange of information and more collaboration. These are two of the challenges that Intercamhs will tackle in 2004.

A full report of the meeting is being prepared and will be online soon.

The first Board meeting was also held in Portland, with 14 of the 16 members present. Again, a summary of the main decisions is being prepared and will be available shortly.

The Portland meeting was organized by the Center for School Mental Health Assistance (CSMHA) at the University of Maryland. Funding for both the International Meeting and the Board meeting was generously provided by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)