An opportunity to raise awareness about Mental Health & Poverty and Antara at a national scale.

On the the 29th-30th March 'F of A UK' Chair (Tim Lawes) and Appeals Coordinator (Ceri Owen) represented  'Friends of Antara UK' at a national conference of medical students by running a workshop.

The  Medsin Global Health Conference 2008 took place at Oxford and was attended by over 450 medical students and health professionals interested in global health issues and health inequalities, with key speakers present from around the globe.

One of four key themes was  'Mental Health in the Global Community' with Professor Lewis Wolpert (author of 'Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of Depression'), Professor Norman Sartorius (Director of the Division of Mental Health of WHO) and  Dr Derek Summerfield (The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture) as key speakers.

Ceri and Tim ran an interactive workshop to fit in with this theme called "Mental Health and Poverty: From Evidence to Action". It aimed to move participants from awareness to action by looking at:
• Mental health in resource-deprived areas, using international examples.
• The multiple connections between mental health and poverty, examining case-studies from a clinical and public health perspective.
• Novel solutions to local problems.
• How to get involved in a student-led organisation (Friends of Antara UK) tackling mental illness and poverty in resource-deprived areas.

“Now we need the global health community, to translate this evidence into action. The time to act is now” Lancet Global Mental Health Group (2007)

You can get download resources used in this workshop including a power-point presentation and exercises here. If you would be interested in similar talks for a group which you are involved in, please don't hesitate to contact us.

 (TL)