The Australian Infant Child Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association (AICAFMHA) will host the Inaugural World Children Of Parents with Mental Illness (COPMI) Conference at the Hilton Adelaide, 26th-28th October 2009. The theme of the conference is ‘Together: Promoting child and family mental health where a parent experiences mental illness’.
The COPMI Conference will be held in conjunction with the 6th National Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Conference also hosted by AICAFMHA. These joint events are a unique opportunity for professionals, consumers and carers from the many fields associated with mental health to share ideas, develop networks and participate in the sharing of knowledge. Following 2 days of conference presentations delegates can also choose to participate in a range of workshops on Wednesday 28th October.
AICAFMHA is enthusiastic about developing strong and inclusive programs for both the COPMI and CAMH components and a feature of both programs will be representation from young people, parents, consumers and carers. In addition, a number of prominent international and Australian speakers have been invited to participate.
AICAFMHA is keen to ensure a broad range of projects, services, programs and research are showcased. We encourage you to consider submitting an abstract addressing one or more of the conference themes. You may choose to submit your abstract for either an oral presentation in a formal concurrent session or a poster presentation.
If you wish to submit an abstract for consideration by the COPMI Conference Program Committee, you must intend to register for the Conference. Please note that abstracts should have an emphasis on work done in collaboration with two or more groups or sectors in keeping with the theme of ‘Together’.
For example, the presentation could discuss work undertaken between two or more of the following groups:
We wish to hear from
Theme 1: Together with children, parents, carers and families
This theme seeks to build upon the existing body of knowledge regarding the promotion of child and family mental health where a parent has a mental illness through reciprocal partnerships with consumers, carers and young people. It includes consideration of the following elements:
Theme 2: Communities together
It is commonly stated that ‘mental health is everyone’s business’ but very often communities are not included in strategies to promote mental health and to support families and children where a parent has a mental illness. Abstracts are invited that address engagement with business, industry, the media, school and child care communities and/or communities of place or culture.
Theme 3: Working together
This theme includes exploration of workforce issues which could have an impact on the promotion of child and family mental health where a parent has a mental illness. It also includes strategies to address workforce education within the tertiary education sector and in a wide range of workplaces (e.g. mental health services, schools, community services, early childhood settings).
Theme 4: Putting it in to practice together
Defining the most appropriate and most effective practices requires sound evaluation and decision making processes for which quality evidence is required. Researchers, policy makers and funders all have a role in putting into practice the promotion of mental health for families and children where a parent has a mental illness.
Before submitting your abstract online, please use the following links to download formatting instructions and an abstract template to prepare and save your abstract in MS Word.
OR
All abstracts MUST be submitted using the on-line template and the closing date for submission is 30th April 2009
Once you have prepared your abstract as a MS Word document using the template provided above, you will need to submit it online. Please follow the instructions for using the online abstract submission system.
When you click on the link below to submit your abstract, you will first be asked to register your details with the submission system. The password that you choose and your email address will be used to log into the submission system when your abstract is completed and ready to send.
| Click here for COPMI Abstract Submission |
Only abstracts submitted using the official template will be accepted for consideration.
A blind selection process will be used. No identifying features such as names of organisations, cities, clinics, services or programs may be listed in the title or text of the abstract. Do NOT include the names of authors either. The names of authors and affiliations (institutions) will be recorded when you submit your abstract.
The Program Committee may also consider other oral presentation options that can be contained within a 25 minute time limit (e.g. a debate between 2 teams of 3 people, who are each given 3 minutes to speak for or against a motion).
Poster size: Maximum width 100 cm, maximum height 100 cm
Posters will be on display at the conference and authors will be allocated time to discuss their work with delegates.
Notification of acceptance or rejection of your submission will be via your e-mail address provided, no later than 30th June 2009.