Local solutions for global problems

The whakatau was handsomely done then Vikram Patel got us off to a storming start with his keynote on global mental health. Jim Crowe managed to speak for less than 3 minutes in his introduction which must be some sort of record. We're all looking forward to him making up for it with his keynote speech tomorrow. Vikram introduced big ideas to big problems including "spreading the love" - sorry that should be scaling up - so that Consultant psychiatrists should see themselves as public health physicians addressing the needs of those who can't get to their clinics as well as the in

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dividuals who do. What this may mean for us in practice is splitting off parts of our job and

supervising the people who consequently do them - for example supervising assistants who deliver only brief psychotherapies. This along with attention to human rights and principles of equity were the key messages from Sunday night.