International Conference on Prevention/Promotion Planned
6-8 December 2000,
Carter Center, Atlanta
Building on a very successful prevention track at the WFMH World Congress in Chile, the WFMH International Consortium for Prevention and Promotion (formerly called the International Consortium for Prevention) is now helping to plan a conference to be held at the Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA on 6-8 December 2000. This is a new WFMH program in collaboration with The Clifford Beers Foundation of the UK, and will be the first in a series of biennial meetings devoted exclusively to promotion-prevention research, policy and programs. The inaugural conference is co-sponsored by the Carter Center with Mrs. Rosalynn Carter as patron.
With the theme The Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioral Disorders, the aim of the international meeting is to develop a common vision and shared goals for science-based promotion and prevention strategies. The program will have a special focus on three areas: prevention of depression, prevention of aggression, and school-based mental health promotion. Much evidence has already been gathered from research, and the efficacy of some programs is now being tested in different cultural groups and societies. Insight is growing about what is helpful to individuals in particular circumstances, and the conference will highlight scientific advances and their potential utilization in local communities.
The program for the Atlanta meeting will continue the work of the major prevention track at the Chile World Congress in September 1999. The Steering Committee of the WFMH International Consortium for Prevention and Promotion, Beverly Long, Sheppard Kellam and Patricia Mrazek, put together twelve sessions at the Santiago meeting with the assistance of Ivan Nazzarala, liaison to the Planning Committee in Chile, and Juan Ramos of the U.S. Office of Prevention, National Institute of Mental Health. Clemens Hosman of the Netherlands, a noted prevention science leader in Europe, was also closely involved. The planners responded to the growing recognition that the prevention of disorders and the promotion of mental health, although utilizing somewhat different approaches, are complementary. Experts from both fields were included in the sessions.
Major speakers for the Prevention and Promotion Track in Chile included Benedetto Saraceno, Director of the Mental Health Division at WHO; Harvey Whiteford, Mental Health Specialist at the World Bank; and Ricardo Munoz, who was the distinguished recipient of the George Albee Lecture Award sponsored by WFMH and the Vermont Conference for the Primary Prevention of Psychopathology. Other special speakers included Louis Caris, J. Pena Corona, Marten deVries, F. Florenzano, M. George, Clemens Hosman, Sheppard Kellam, Pirkko Lahti, Beverly Long, Maria Elena Medina-Mora, and Patrica Mrazek.
The WFMH International Consortium on Prevention and Promotion welcomes new members and encourages those interested to send their names to the WFMH Secretariat with a brief note about special interests.