President of Ireland Michael D Higgins opened a two day conference today attended by 400 psychiatrists from throughout the country. Speakers from the academic community in Ireland and abroad are sharing current knowledge and recent research on a variety of topics relevant to mental illness and delivery of mental health services over the two day annual winter conference.

Students from every university in Ireland attended a recent psychiatry summer school in Dublin, organised by the Trainee Committee of the College of Psychiatry of Ireland. This is the second year the two-day free event has run. It was expanded this year to accommodate increased demand from students and involved visits to more clinical sites in the Dublin area.

The College of Psychiatry of Ireland will mark World Mental Health Day 2012 with a one day Conference, “Homelessness & Mental Illness: What can be done?” The conference will bring together a number of speakers from nursing, psychiatry, social work, general practice and homeless agencies to discuss the many challenges facing those who are homeless and live with mental illness.

The College of Psychiatry welcomes the approval of the Heads of Bill by Government which will enable the recruitment of a separate director for Mental Health under the establishment of a new Directorate structure for the HSE as planned by Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly.

From William Flannery, Chair of the Faculty of Addiction Psychiatry.

Article for the Irish Times by June Shannon.

From Dr Anne Jeffers, Director External Affairs & Policy.

The recent Spring Conference of the College of Psychiatry of Ireland held in Galway focused on the theme of Social Psychiatry and Recovery with guest international and national speakers. Through plenary sessions and workshops, almost 400 delegates spent the two days being informed of recent developments in psychiatry and discussing how practice of psychiatry can be improved in order to facilitate those who use the service, achieving recovery, in the sense of living a fulfilling and satisfying life.

The College of Psychiatry welcome the Mental Health Commission Annual Report published today and the improvements and cultural shift observed over the past five years in mental health services noted in the report.

Over a two day period in Galway, from 29th to 30th March (2012), psychiatrists from throughout the country will meet to hear international and national speakers and debate many topical issues in Psychiatry today focussed around the theme ‘Social Psychiatry’.

The College of Psychiatry of Ireland is hosting the 12th Spike Milligan Public Speaking competition tomorrow evening when teams from the seven Medical Schools in Ireland will compete for the Dick Joynt Trophy & Sculpture. The College remain grateful to Spike Milligan, who died 10 years ago last month, for lending his name to this popular and important annual competition.

Psychiatrists in Ireland call for specialised services and a co-ordinated approach for homeless citizens with serious mental health difficulties at the College of Psychiatry AGM today, Friday 27th January. Speaking at the College’s AGM, Dr Joanne Fenton, a consultant psychiatrist who works with homeless people, said the true prevalence of mental health problems in the homeless population is unknown but that estimates show that up to one in four homeless people can have severe mental health issues.

From Dr Anne Jeffers, Director of External Affairs