The 22nd Annual NAPICU Conference, 7th-8th September 2017, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric intensive care Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 53 - 58
• Main Author: Robson, Samuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: East Kilbride NAPICU (National Association of Psychiatric Intensive Care 01.04.2018; National Association of Psychiatric Intensive Care and Low Secure Units, NAPICU
• Subjects: Awards & honors; Child & adolescent mental health; Conferences; Intensive care; Mental disorders; Mental health care; Canada; Netherlands; United Kingdom > UK; Ireland; Iceland; India
• ISSN: 1742-6464; 1744-2206
• DOI: 10.20299/jpi.2018.002

Events attended by delegates included talks on the challenges faced by the attitudes of society to mental ill-health; talks by athletes who have themselves suffered mental health problems (as well as their experiences in treatment) and plans for the future of mental health treatment, in particular the design of good buildings to enhance safety and increase positive outcomes. Mr Matthew Page, Interim Director of Operations, Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and NAPICU Executive Committee Member discussed psychiatric intensive care for young people, providing an interesting insight into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Units. A message to take away was that psychiatric intensive care varies greatly between places in the world, although the desire to look after people suffering from mental health crises transcends time and space, as the degree of passion and enthusiasm that emanated from the professionals was the same, whether they worked in India where funding pressures and the ability to house patients places a burden on the healthcare team, or in the Netherlands where a long history of advanced and free healthcare has led to highly modern and safe facilities, and tried and tested care pathways which often lead to a higher proportion of positive outcomes. Personally as a student, the conference was awe-inspiring and a real opportunity to mix with people from across the globe and across the disciplines of mental health care, as well as to sample the joys of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, which is home to a centre of medical excellence in Trinity College Dublin.