Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

Enacting a WPA action plan is above all an opportunity to work with colleagues around the world who volunteer time, energy and insights in a collective effort that could hardly be realised any other way. It is in everyone’s interest that these initiatives have a sustained influence on the advancement of mental health and psychiatry in countries across the world. Thanks to WPA President Professor Afzal Javed’s support there is a new focus on developing and using the outcomes from recent action plans. The WPA took a number of significant steps in the period 2017-2020. Inaugurating an Advisory Group of people with lived experience and family carers has had a strong influence already on other initiatives from this period: including the program on supporting alternatives to coercion in mental health care; and changes to the planning of WPA Congresses. Positive moves to respect and promote the participation of women colleagues in the WPA activities has also helped transform the Congress experience and the profession’s view of itself. Work led by the Standing Committee on Ethics and Review over several triennia culminated last year in approval of the first global Code of Ethics for our profession. We gained experience in working with young people living in adversity across settings. Together with changes to communications and a new learning platform, this expands the possibilities for education and training of mental health professionals in many parts of the world. The Advisory Committee on response to emergencies was established in early 2020 to encourage Member Societies to work with one another in responding to needs during the pandemic. Experience from this work will be invaluable in strengthening responses to future emergencies. Panellists with close involvement in the program or with a new perspective will reflect on the progress made in working with Member Societies and other partners to promote and protect human rights in psychiatry, respond to emergencies, support the mental health of young women and men in adversity, and ready our Association for future work.