Dear colleagues and friends,
It is a great pleasure, an honor and a privilege to welcome you to Porto, where the 23rd Forum of the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) is taking place between 22 and 27 June 2015.
Porto has a prominent historical centre, catalogued by UNESCO as World Heritage and is world-wide famous for its Port wine, as you all know and will taste later on. But I definitely should say, that once in Porto, you should speak with the locals, for it is here that the warmth and friendliness of the people will show you yet another feature of the city’s world heritage. Another important reference is Henry the Navigator who was born in Porto and created the Portuguese navigation school which allowed to discover lands, where Portuguese were the first to arrive to.
International collaboration and partnerships between people seem to have contributed throughout time to what we now call modern globalization, referred as a global interconnected system with dominant factors: economical, political, technological, cultural and environmental. And, acknowledging the importance of this matter, this 23rd Forum of the EFPT has “Global mental health” as its motto.
We look forward to this Forum being useful to bring life to dialogues and to generate further intellectual conversations and scholarly exchanges, and that our different backgrounds bring a new overview to the conclusions.
We have prepared an array of scientific and social activities, so that all the participants can interact and network under an enjoyable atmosphere. One of these key happenings, is the festivity of São João, the patron Saint of Porto on the night of 23rd June.
The 23rd Forum of the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees is developing through 3 different initiatives this year.
For the first time, we have a Pre-Forum Course between 19 to 22 June, on Leadership and Professional skills, directed by Professor Norman Sartorius and Professor Sir David Goldberg, which is taking place in Secção Regional do Norte da Ordem dos Médicos. For this Course we have received several applications from accomplished young psychiatrists across the world for this excellent opportunity to strengthen their competencies.
The EFPT Forum is starting on June 22 at 19h00 with a Welcome Reception at Museum “Casa do Infante” (Henry – The Navigator) with the lectures from Professor Norman Sartorius and Professor Sir David Goldberg on “Happiness and Mental health” followed by a Welcome Cocktail that has been kindly prepared by the users from Hospital de Magalhães Lemos – AFUA (Associação de Familiares, Utentes e Amigos do Hospital de Magalhães Lemos). The Forum will take place in different venues, and sessions will continue in Hospital de Magalhães Lemos, followed by visits to Hospital Conde Ferreira, Centro Hospitalar de São João and Centro Hospitalar do Porto, and at Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar for the country reports and poster presentations, as well as the working group sessions.
This year the International Party, one of the highlights of the Forum will be live, dynamic… and with a tour. We will be in a hop-on, hop-off bus throughout a fantastic journey, both by each of the participating countries through your performances and beverages, while at the same time, through the beautiful city of Porto.
The Scientific Programme of the Forum, between 25 and 26 June has been open to all junior doctors, medical students and mental health professionals from Portugal and beyond, interested in contributing for a multidisciplinary discussion on “Global mental health”, covering central topics as: psychiatry and society; workforce and human resources; cooperation in psychiatry; providing health care; social breakthroughs; the profile of a psychiatrist; child and adolescent psychiatry; the psychiatric interview; psychotherapy; suicide prevention; complaints, litigation and malpractice, and statistical methods in psychiatric research.
We are very pleased to have a Special Issue about the Scientific Programme at the International Journal of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health, that gathers the presentations by invited speakers, with the contributions from selected abstracts from participants that are available online and provided through USB pen drives to participants. The best e-poster and the best oral presentation will be distinguished and awarded with prizes. We are also pleased with the fact that sessions at the Symposiums will be recorded, and available to be seen afterwards. At the edge of the new advancements and technologies we have developed a free mobile app, so that our participants can keep track of our busy agenda of the Programme. We have reached our capacity of registrations to all of these initiatives and we are hosting over 300 people in Porto for this occasion.
We are delighted that so many world-renowned professionals from different fields (stakeholders, psychiatrists, physicians, psychologists, nurses, carers, users, medical students, psychology students) are travelling from different regions of the world to Porto to contribute to our EFPT Forum, which we are very proud of. You have many outstanding courses and workshops to choose from, at our practice-related sessions, making it a very dynamic conference.
EFPT Porto Forum 2015 is truly a global meeting with presenters and attendees worldwide, in the lively city of Porto, which promises to be an exceptional educational and social experience, organised in collaboration with the National Trainees Associations in Portugal, APIP (Associação Portuguesa de Internos de Psiquiatria) and ANIPIA (Associação Nacional de Internos de Psiquiatria da Infância e da Adolescência).
As President of this Annual Forum, I want to deeply thank all the members of the Local Organising Committee: Cátia, Fernando, João, Joana, Mariana, Sara, Sarah, Sérgio, Tânia, Tiago and Vítor for the enormous work and constant support they have gave to this Forum, so that we could organise it.
I want to express my thankfulness to all of those who helped and supported us. Gratitude is one of the most important feelings that we must emphasise nowadays.
We hope you enjoy Porto and feel at home in this city. Hospitality is an ancient custom of the people from Portugal, who never shut their doors to those who come in goodwill.
At the Port of Honor at the Welcome reception, I would like to propose a toast for the success of the 23rd Forum of the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees and to your good health!
With very best wishes,
Mariana Pinto da Costa
On behalf of the LOC EFPT Porto Forum 2015
Local Organising Committee for EFPT Porto Forum 2015 (Top left to right: Mariana Pinto da Costa, Cátia Moreira, Joana Vitória, Mariana Andrade, Sara Carneiro, Tânia Abreu. Bottom left to right: João Caseiro, Fernando Ochoa, Vitor Pimenta, Sérgio Saraiva, Tiago Costa, Sarah Oliveira)