As part of SNF’s Global Health Initiative (GHI) and in collaboration with the Child Mind Institute, the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative (CAMHI) is organizing its second full-day conference, two years after CAMHI’s inaugural event in January 2023. The conference will take place on February 27 at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) Lighthouse from 09:00 to 17:30. Through an in-depth program and in continued dialogue with the communities the initiative serves, the conference will focus on highlighting the most critical mental health issues faced by children and adolescents, presenting ways to strengthen care and support through the public sector in Greece in line with international best practices and responding to input from young people.
The program will include a wide range of presentations and contributors, featuring speakers from the panhellenic Child Mental Health Network and Youth Engagement Scheme (YES), as well as representatives of the Greek state, stakeholders, and professionals from the fields of health, education, and social welfare, including speakers from distinguished international organizations. Among many other topics, speakers will cover relevant issues such as anxiety and depression in children and adolescents and ways to support them, strengthening the role of educators, and the need to build partnerships between mental health professionals and the justice system to address issues such as violence, abuse, and delinquency in children. In addition, the program will include a targeted panel on the role of media in shaping the mental health debate coordinated and curated by iMEdD (incubator for Media Education and Development).
The conference will open with a keynote panel discussion between SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos, Founding President and Medical Director of the Child Mind Institute Harold Koplewicz, and Deputy Minister of Health Marios Themistocleous on the vision and mission of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative. The conference will also feature Deputy Minister of Health Dimitris Vartzopoulos, who will discuss the development of the collaborations that animate CAMHI, which was developed and is implemented on the basis of public-private partnership between SNF and the Greek state.
As part of the Initiative’s ongoing commitment to listening to the voices and perspectives of children and adolescents and integrating them into any effort to improve the care they receive, the conference will also welcome young people who have participated and contributed to the Youth Advisory Groups of CAMHI’s Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) to discuss their own ideas on creating more supportive environments, especially in school.
Finally, the international dimension of this effort will be discussed, and in particular the innovative work of the SNF Global Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the Child Mind Institute, which, inspired by the Initiative, aims to contribute to the improvement of mental health care for children and adolescents worldwide.
Participation in the conference is free and open to all with registration.