Thursday 15 October 2009
International psychiatrists welcomed at Tamatekapua in Rotorua
About 300 international psychiatrists were welcomed to Tamatekapua in Rotorua yesterday to begin the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2009 conference with a theme of “Learning from the past; Lessons for the future”.
Convenor of the conference, Rotorua born psychiatrist Dr Rees Tapsell (Ngati Whakaue), said the conference includes some of the most eminent psychiatrists in the world from the Global Scientific Partnership Network, a group sponsored by the World Health Organisation. He said the conference is probably the biggest number of international psychiatrists to be seen in New Zealand.
The conference was opened by the Associate Minister of Health Hon. Dr Jonathan Coleman who said the conference created an opportunity for transfer of knowledge, discussion and debate about diagnosis and classification of mental disorders and how this applies to shaping mental health services to better meet the needs of people with mental illness.
He acknowledged that New Zealand’s experience in indigenous mental health and primary mental health care was part of the reason the conference was being held in New Zealand, and why his address was occurring on such a significant marae.
Dr Coleman told the conference that the government is putting a lot of focus into early intervention and investing in primary mental health services which is vital when people are experiencing mental health problems.
Conference delegates began the theme of “learning from the past” with an explanation of the marae Te Papaiouru and the whare tupuna Tamatekapua as well as a short history of Te Arawa from kaumatua Jim Schuster.
The keynote address was delivered in Tamatekapua by Professor Norman Sartorius, an internationally renowned expert in schizophrenia, depression and health service delivery entitled, “Usefulness and limits of considering cultural variation in the practice of psychiatry”.
Professor Sartorius said culture influences the manner in which symptoms of disease are expressed and interpreted by those who have the disease and by health providers. It influences the manner in which health services are provided and the way in which they are perceived by those who receive them.
“Culture goes beyond race and nationality, the young, the old, women, men, urban and rural dwellers and sub-groups of the population defined in other ways have their own way of using words, a system of values specific to them, characteristic ways of dealing with distress and other features which they share and which makes them distinguishable from other groups in the same population. This realisation is of considerable importance for the way in which psychiatry is taught and practiced,” he said.
Dr Tapsell said an important part of the conference is the inclusion of 20 secondary students, 19 medical students and three junior doctors as part of a workforce development focus. He said New Zealand is facing a shortage of psychiatrists and RANZCP, Te Pou, the National Centre of Mental Health Research, Information and Workforce Development, Te Rau Matatini, National Maori Workforce Development Organisation and the University of Auckland have joined forces to encourage students into the profession.
The conference runs in Rotorua at the Convention Centre for three days this week.
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