Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

Europe has been an especially hard-hit area both by an ongoing refugee crisis and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Since 2015, over 1.88 million refugees have reached Europe through Mediterranean routes, over 25 thousand just in 2020, and about 3,9 million refugees and asylum seekers are currently reported in Turkey. Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants across the world have been identified as a vulnerable population in the current state of COVID-19 pandemic, due to the precarious working, living, economic, and health conditions they face. Adverse social determinants of health may have devastating effects on mental health of these vulnerable populations, including structural stigmatisation, social exclusion, cultural and physical barriers to accessing mental health services. The latter include language and access to information, sociocultural and religious barriers, overcrowding, and the shutdown of government services in times of pandemic, among others. With this proposal, addressed to trainees and early career psychiatrists, we aim to raise awareness on areas for improvement voiced by European trainees in our Survey on Refugee Mental Health. Furthermore, we aim to highlight successful interventions that have proven socially, culturally and linguistically appropriate for these populations, namely ReMAP in Portugal and efforts in Germany. Finally, we also aim to raise awareness on issues that should be considered when designing tele-mental health services, especially in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.