|
|
The Child and Adolescent Overseas Working Party
|
An International Institute of Child and
Adolescent Mental Health (see below) has been set up to carry on
the work of the Working Party in the future. Readers are welcome to
apply for the Fellowship of the Institute.
The Working Party has produced a list
of international initiatives and relevant websites, set up
bursaries and contributed to short courses in UAE, Kolkata, and
Varanasi. Currently a ‘Rough Guide to Teaching Overseas’ is in
preparation.
One of the main aims of the Working
Party and of the Institute is to conduct short courses overseas,
particularly in low-income countries. We would therefore, like to
set up a data base of professionals who would be interested in
volunteering to contribute to such short courses. In order to be
included in the data base, please send the following information to
Kedar.Dwivedi@ngh.nhs.uk.
|
Working group
report
The Royal College of Psychiatrists had set up an Overseas
Working Group under the Chairmanship of Dr. Robert Kendell in June
1999 to advise the Council on the international role of the
College: what contributions the College should (and should not) try
to make in the next decade to the development of psychiatry and the
training of psychiatrists outside the United Kingdom and Ireland,
and what resources it would be reasonable to devote to these
objectives.
The report of the Working Group in 2000 made 14 conclusions and
recommendations. One of these being: The Child and Adolescent
Faculty is invited to set up a Working Group of its own to consider
how it can best help developing countries to acquire basic skills
in its discipline.
In April 2001 the Child and Adolescent Faculty Executive decided
to go ahead with the setting up of such a Working Party and the
first meeting took place in July 2001 during the College AGM. An
outline proposal and a small budget was approved by the Executive
and Finance Committee of the College in October 2001 with the aim
of supporting the development of services in low income
countries.
|
Membership
- Dr. Joanne Barton, (Child Psychiatrist, Glasgow)
- Dr. Kedar Dwivedi (Hon. Secretary)
- Peter Harper (Clinical Psychologist)
- Dr. Dorothea Holman, Child Psychiatrist, Kent)
- Joy Jones (Mental Health Nurse, Gwent)
- Dr. Begum Maitra (Child Psychiatrist, London)
- Prof. Rory Nicol (WHO Collaborating Centre, London)
- Dr. Anula Nikapota (Chair), Dr. Silas Sebugwawo
(Consultant Public Health, Northampton)
- Dorothy Sebuliba (Training Co-ordinator, Leicester)
- Dr. Mike Shooter (Child Psychiatrist, Wales)
- Dorothy Tonak (International Institute of Mentally Disordered
Offenders)
- Professor Anthony Costello (Paediatrician, London).
Thus, the current membership is multidisciplinary including
child psychiatry, nursing, public health, social work, paediatrics
and clinical psychology.
|
Tasks
The Working Party has already identified following tasks:
- To design a Core Multidisciplinary Training Pack that would be
relevant and applicable in a variety of countries such as, in
Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Most members of the
Working Party have extensive experience of designing such training
programmes. Possibilities of creating distance learning materials,
compact discs and videos etc. should also to be explored.
- To identify key people and networks associated with child and
adolescent mental health services in various countries and contact
them in order to assess their training needs and to co-construct
training programmes that can be cascaded further.
- To closely liase and work with other associations already
interested in this field. For example, the IACAPAP, WHO and UNICEF
are also committed to this cause.
- To explore the possibility of using some of the unfilled SpR
posts or creating short term clinical training experiences in this
country for overseas professionals.
- To encourage and connect all those interested in helping with
such ventures through Focus Newsletter, Faculty Newsletter, College
website etc.
|
|
Strategic Development of
the Working Party
This is currently a Working Party of the Child and Adolescent
Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Honorary
Secretary is already an Executive Member of the faculty and the
Faculty Chair provides regular guidance. It is also linked with the
International Affairs Board of the College and relates to the
Education Committee of the College via the Overseas Training
Committee.
It has been funded to function as a part of the College and is
already multi-disciplinary. However in the future, it aims to have
representatives from and be jointly funded by a variety of
organisations such as:
- Royal College of Nursing
- Royal College of Paediatrics
- Child Health, Association of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry
- British Psychological Society
- Grant Aid e.g. from Overseas Development Agency.
In due course the Working group may also facilitate the
development of a Special Interest Group within the College and
elsewhere.
|
Progress
An extensive network of contacts has already been established to
move the agenda forward:
- International Organisations: International Association for
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions, World
Psychiatric Association, UEMS/CAPP, World Health Organization,
European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, International
Institute of Special Needs Offenders
- Key Overseas Professionals in: AFRICA (Kenya, Mozambique,
Nigeria, South Africa, Zanzibar) AMERICAS (Canada), ASIA (Hong
Kong, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand), AUSTRALIA
& NEW ZEALAND, EUROPE (Denmark, Old Soviet, Norway, Spain,
Yugoslavia), MIDDLE EAST (UAE, Israel).
- Help, support and interest in the UK: In addition to the
membership, a number of professionals in the UK have been extremely
helpful with the project and have offered to help in the
future.
|
Contact
Any one interested in offering help to this important venture,
such as, for expanding the network of contacts and/or development
of the training programmes, please contact the Honorary Secretary,
Dr. Kedar N.
Dwivedi.
Back to homepage
|
|