Mental Health Community Coalition (MHCC) ACT is hosting a Mental Health Symposium ACT: 'Translating research into new practice'.

This full-day Symposium will showcase current Australian research into ways of assisting people with mental illness to lead a full and satisfying life.This may be by reducing symptoms or by assisting people to come to terms with those symptoms while still participating in what life has to offer.

Call for abstracts

The theme of the symposium is the translation of current mental health research into new practice, rather than research that’s simply ‘interesting’. Consistent with this theme, the objectives of the day are to:

1. Highlight current mental health research relevant to the ACT and Regional NSW

2. Bring together community mental health workers, service providers, clinicians, researchers, consumers, carers and students in the ACT and Regional NSW in a positive learning environment where they are free to ask questions, learn and engage

3. Discover whether research indicates the desirability of policy change

MHCC ACT are currently calling for Abstracts on the following four broad topic areas:

1. Mental health in marginalised populations

   • Including, but not restricted to: CALD, prisoners, Indigenous, LGBTIQ

   • Mental health and gender

   • Approaches to treatment

2. Physical origins of mental illness

   • For example: inflammation in schizophrenia, interactions with immune system etc.

   • Determining the physical origins of mental illnesses

   • Evaluating clinical detection of physical causes of mental illness

3. Functional approaches to treatment

   • Treatments that focus on building functional capacity, as opposed to focusing on diagnosis

   • Person-centred treatment as an alternative to diagnosis-focused treatment

   • Personalised medicine

4. Translating mental health research into practice

   • Case studies of research being successfully translated into practice.

   • Experiences of translational research – process, challenges, advice, etc.

Abstracts close 7th August and can be emailed to MHCC ACT at charlie.richardson@mhccact.org.au.

If you have any questions about the Symposium email MHCC ACT at charlie.richardson@mhccact.org.au, or phone (02) 6249 7756.