Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

During the last decade WPA has been promoting partnerships for better mental health worldwide including best practice recommendations for working with service users and family carers (World Psychiatry, 2011). WPA Action Plans have and currently do include initiatives to further develop partnerships with service users and family carers. This panel discussion will present different perspectives on evidence, experiences and ethics of collaborations between people with a lived experience of mental health problems and services, family carers and health care professionals. Charlene Sunkel/South Africa will set the scene by presenting her Global Mental Health Peer work and its collaborations with different stakeholders including WPA. Alberto Fergusson/Columbia will focus on the Columbian and South American traditions and innovations with regard to collaborations between psychiatrists, users of services and their families and friends. Petra Gronholm/UK will present the scientific evidence concerning effective components of interventions to reduce mental health stigma and discrimination around the globe. Martha Savage/NZL will highlight opportunities and obstacles of collaborations between professional bodies, user advocacy groups and individuals and family members and organisations. Session chair Michaela Amering/Austria will open the discussion with a note on the importance of Trialogue, which stands for communication between service users, family carers and mental health workers on equal footing. Wallcraft J, Amering M, Freidin J, Davar B, Froggatt D, Jafri H, Javed A, Katontoka S, Raja S, Rataemane S, Steffen S, Tyano S, Underhill C, Wahlberg H, Warner R, Herrman H (2011) Partnerships for better mental health worldwide: WPA recommendations on best practices in working with service users and family carers. World Psychiatry 10(3):229-36