An International Seminar on the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in Finnish and Global Perspectives
Research Flagship Centre INVEST and the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry will organise an international seminar on global mental health with the GCAMHS research group. The seminar consists of nine lectures given by researchers from Finland, Ukraine, Kenya, the Philippines, Argentina, Israel, Greece and Singapore. The topics deal with the mental health situation of young people in different countries and the various societal crises that affect young people’s well-being and future prospects.
Professor of psychiatry Olga Osokina from the Donetsk National University talks about the effects of the war in Ukraine on the mental health of children and young people. Professor, demographer Marika Jalovaara speaks at the seminar about Finland’s declining birth rate and what kind of effects demographic changes have on social sustainability and the well-being of young people. In addition, for example, theologian and university researcher Panu Pihkala from the University of Helsinki lectures on environmental anxiety among young people, and professor Maria Beatriz Moyano talks about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis on the well-being of children and young people in Argentina.
Most of the speakers at the seminar belong to a research group coordinated by the the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry. The research group covers 31 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. The group’s goal is to gather information on mental health problems in different countries and, above all, how the environment and societal threats, such as pandemics, wars, economic crises and climate change, affect the well-being of young people. The study will cover nearly 100,000 participants.
The seminar Global perspectives on child and adolescent mental health in times of crises will be held on Friday, September 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Säätiö lecture hall at the University of Turku (Medisiina D, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, Turku). Coffee will be served in the morning and afternoon. You can participate in the seminar on site or with remote access.
Programme
8:30-9:00 Coffee
9:00-9:25 Dr Anat Brunstein-Klomek, Professor and Dean of Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, a clinical psychologist, Israel: Suicide Safety plan training in Virtual Reality
9:25-9:50 Dr David Ndetei, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Nairobi/Founding Director, Africa Mental Health Foundation, Kenya: Towards understanding adolescent suicidality in its total context: Lessons from Kenya
9:50-10:15 Dr Olga Osokina, Professor at the Donetsk National Medical University, DNMU, Department of Psychiatry, Ukraine and a visiting Professor at the University of Turku, Research Center for Child Psychiatry: Supporting children, adolescents’ and families’ mental health during war
10:15-10:30 Discussion & break
10:30-10:55 Dr Ong Say How, Children and Adolescents Senior Consultant child psychiatrist and Chief in the department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Singapore: COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Singapore
10:55-11:20 Dr Maria Beatriz Moyano, Professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Tourette, OCD, ADHD and Associated Disorders (CITA), Honorary President of the APSA Psychiatry Research Chapter Member of the Argentine Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AAPI), Argentina: Psychosocial wellbeing of children and adolescents – consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and financial crisis in Argentina
11:20 – 11:30 Discussion
11:30-12:30 Lunch break
12.30-12:55 Dr Panu Pihkala, Adjunct professor of environmental theology in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki: Climate anxiety, resilience and adaptation
12:55-13:20 Dr Gerasimos Kolaitis, Professor of Child Psychiatry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece: Under and against the weather: Climate change and youth mental health
13:20 – 13:30 Discussion
13:30-13.55 Dr Marika Jalovaara, Professor INVEST Research Flagship Centre, FLUX PI and Consortium Director, NEFER PI, INVEST Flagship Co-PI and Research Area Director, University of Turku: The Nordic fertility decline as a threat to societal sustainability. Is there something we can do about it?
13:55-14:20 Dr Daisy Alberto, RN, MAN, Associate director, Center for Academic Health Sciences Research Concurrent Chair. Research and Developments, College of Nursing De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Research, Philippines: The Youth is the Hope of our Future
14:20-14:35 Discussion
14:35 – 15:00 Dr Andre Sourander, Professor of Child Psychiatry, University of Turku: Closing words