IACAPAP Secretary General Corner: The IACAPAP Regional Webinars and Special Interest Groups

IACAPAP (International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions) has a long-standing history of professionals with keen interests in different areas relating to the wellbeing of child and adolescent mental health. Due to the diverse nature of the members’ geographical location or interests in the field it has remained somewhat challenging to get a one size fits all approach or solution for our varied educational / capacity development needs. As a Bureau, we present the Regional Webinars and the Special Interest Groups as possible solutions to help bridge these gaps.

These are spin offs from our already established Lunch and Learn educational webinar / virtual meetings that are held every 2 months. The Lunch and Learn Webinars, though successful have also had some challenges. These trainings are reported beneficial and well accepted, the varying learning needs continue to exist across different regions of the world, with the resource deprived settings with huge younger population groups having greater needs and by extension treatment gaps. As a result following the feedback survey of members regarding challenges with time zones and also providing access for even non-members to occasionally, also, have access to the rich wealth of experience from our speakers we conceived the Regional Webinar to cater to regional needs. 

The Regional Webinar will be open to the public but Pre-registration is required, the webinars will be driven by the regional leaders and supported by the IACAPAP Executive Officer. Interested regions/ groups are welcome to submit proposal to hold such regional webinars and our team will be happy to provide guidance on how to set it up. We look forward to the benefits and learnings this program has to offer us as a group and as individuals. 

It promises to be the first of its kind and the first of many others to come. Regional Vice Presidents will coordinate the schedule region based, relevant and free webinars in the course of the coming year and members are encouraged to invite non colleagues and the general public to attend. This will no doubt present another awareness creation platform about the IACAPAP and  also serve as a capacity development route for our regions.  

We also have in the past in IACAPAP had some effort at setting up special interest groups, however they have been albeit short lived and not sustained. These efforts to set up standing SIGs are now being re-visited yet again as a peer to peer educational and capacity building tool with the aim of creating more lasting and impactful groups hopefully driven by committed members. 

Special interest groups in child and adolescent psychiatry focus on specific areas within child and adolescent psychiatry, allowing professionals to delve deeper into research, treatment, and advocacy for these unique populations and concerns. 

Special interest groups in child and adolescent psychiatry do play a crucial role in: 

1. Advancing research and knowledge in specific areas 
2. Developing and disseminating best practices and guidelines 
3. Providing education and training for professionals 
4. Advocating for policies and programs supporting children's mental health 
5. Facilitating networking and collaboration among experts 
6. Promoting awareness and reducing stigma around mental health issues 
7. Informing healthcare policy and decision-making 
8. Supporting clinical practice and quality improvement 
9. Fostering international collaboration and knowledge sharing 
10. Enhancing patient care and outcomes through specialised expertise 
     

As an association that focuses on areas within child and adolescent psychiatry, through the special interest groups we can: drive innovation and progress in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, improve access to specialised care and services, address unique challenges and needs in the field 

These SIGs if established and strengthened, may be positioned to work closely with professional organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies to achieve their goals. These SIGs provide a platform for professionals to share knowledge, collaborate, and advance the field of child and adolescent psychiatry. 

The IACAPAP Bureau have now decided to recommence the SIGs following expressions of interests by members and also after deliberations, an outline of the process for setting up a SIG has been created as guide for individuals/ groups willing to set up a SIG: 

• Submitting a proposal (in Word or PDF format) with a CV. The proposal shall include but not be limited to the following. Submission by email to IACAPAP Secretary General through the IACAPAP Executive Officer (info@iacapap.org).
  • Please describe the SIG referencing, citing some research that has been done in this field, a description of what you intend to discuss and achieve, etc.
  • The SIG Promoter/Coordinator must demonstrate some evidence that there are members of IACAPAP interested in being a part of this SIG. A minimum of at least 10 members is recommended.
• Once it’s approved by the Bureau, the SIG coordinator shall submit an article about the SIG and publish it in the IACAPAP Bulletin, and may be followed by a dedicated lunch & learn webinar (45 – 60 minutes) where possible with support from the IACAPAP Executive Officer. By organising these two activities, we hope it will help further generate interest of IACAPAP members to join and participate in the SIG.
• After completing the two activities mentioned, the SIG will be eligible to present a symposium at the upcoming IACAPAP Congress.

Please note that interest groups may evolve over time, and new ones may emerge as the field advances. We encourage members to be on the watch for the call for submissions of proposals for SIGs in the next few weeks.

On a final note, on behalf of the IACAPAP President and the entire Bureau, I express our gratitude to our Vice-Presidents and Members, we cannot thank you enough for your support, participation and regular feedback to our team. We look forward to serving you even better and encourage you to avail yourself of all the IACAPAP has to offer through its different expressions.

We thank you for all you do for CAMH

Thank you for all you do for IACAPAP.

IACAPAP Bulletin, Issue 75