On behalf of the Organising Committee, we would to invite you to participate in the 2nd PSYCHOTHERAPY SYMPOSIUM
What works in South Africa? Implementing and scaling up evidence-based psychological therapies for resource-limited settings.
We are excited to announce the relaunch of the Psychotherapy Symposium.
We were disappointed to have to cancel at the last minute in 2020 due to the arrival of COVID-19 and what an unusual couple of years it has been. The past few years have been a stark reminder of the importance of mental health. Our plan, therefore, is to carry out the Psychotherapy Symposium on 9 March 2023 in Cape Town.
In 2017 we held the first Psychotherapy Symposium in Cape Town entitled, “Which treatments work in South Africa? Evidence-based psychological therapies for resource-limited settings”. The symposium brought together government stakeholders, community organizations, and researchers to present evidence on psychotherapy in resource-limited African settings, and provided a forum to share experience and knowledge. We sought to consolidate the best evidence to inform policy and practice.
The second Psychotherapy Symposium will now be held on 9 March 2023 to build on the successes of the 2017 symposium. The intention is to discuss service delivery models and to develop practical implementation strategies with input from government stakeholders, policy makers, community organizations, and researchers.
The symposium will feature presentations on the implementation and service delivery research of psychological therapies. An update on the progress and the findings of the research projects presented at the previous symposium will also be provided and new, innovative work will be introduced. There will be an international and a national keynote speaker in the morning. The afternoon will offer training workshops in the areas of maternal mental health, chronic disease, and child and adolescent mental health with a focus on implementation and scale-up considerations (e.g. supervision and training, delivery agents, monitoring, and evaluation). Following the workshops, a panel of local experts will discuss and debate the findings and the themes of the day, with input from the audience, with a view to generating common themes for best practice. The day will end with a final summary session.
This symposium is aimed at everyone working in mental health care throughout South Africa including policy-makers, NGOs, NPOs, government organisations, public and private sector nurses, counsellors, and clinicians, trainees (e.g. registrars and intern psychologists), faith-based organizations, occupational therapists, social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and academic researchers.
Lena Andersen, Crick Lund, and John Joska Convenors, on Behalf of The Organising Committee
Umesh Bawa – UWC
Soraya Seedat – Stellenbosch University
Ashraf Kagee – Alan FlisherCentre for Public Mental Health and Stellenbosch University
Catherine Ward – UCT
Lenny Naidoo – City of Cape Town
