Research shows that people living in communities plagued with high rates of joblessness, poverty, crime and violence as well as inadequate housing, health care, education and social services suffer disproportionately high rates of stress, anxiety, trauma-induced illnesses, depression, substance abuse and cognitive challenges. Often, the mental health preventions and interventions that are implemented in these difficult social contexts are designed to affect individual change; rarely do they seek to address or alter the broader social conditions that cause psychological illness. By failing to address the critical social determinants of mental health, health care policies and programs often fall short of meeting the needs of our most disadvantaged communities.
On June 3rd and 4th, 2010, the Institute on Social Exclusion at the Adler School of Professional Psychology will host its annual conference at the Drake Hotel in downtown Chicago. Entitled “The Social Determinants of Mental Health: From Awareness to Action”, the purpose of the Conference is to…
· Increase awareness about how social conditions impact mental health and well-being;
· Develop and disseminate mental health prevention and intervention strategies that are informed by the social determinants framework;
· Create multidisciplinary collaborations to identify and address the complex social conditions that impact mental health; and
· Develop new knowledge and practice innovations.
Keynote Speakers:
David Satcher, MD, PhD – The 16th Surgeon General of the United States, past member of the World Health Organization Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and currently, the Director of the Satcher Health Leadership Center at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Sandro Galea, MD, MPH, DrPH – Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, Research Professor at the Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan.
A 300 word abstract is due on December 31, 2009.
For more detailed information on the Call for Papers, please go to: http://www.adler.edu/about/2010annualconference.asp
