One Day Essential Mental Health

This one day conference will be chaired by Dr Alan Cohen: retired GP principal, former Director of Primary Care at West London Mental Health Trust (2011 – 2015), National Primary Care lead for the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, and Honorary Associate Director of Primary Care at the Department of Health (2005 – 2011).

The event will be split into three sessions with two lectures in each followed by a panel discussion to foster in depth discussion and provide the opportunity to ask the experts questions.

Primary Care Mental Health – This session will deal with the difficulty of identifying and managing the confusion and chaos of the presentation of mental health problems in primary care.  It will provide a fresh perspective on primary care mental health, and offer some practical approaches to dealing with difficult problems.

Recent Advances in the Management of Depression. The speakers will discuss the GP management of the first consultation when depression may be considered as a possible diagnosis, and collaborative care; what it is, and how it is used in the management of depression.

The physical Health of People with a Psychosis. This session will describe the primary care management of people with severe mental illness, addressing particularly the increased risk of physical illness in this group of people. and detailing the role of the PHCT in managing the cardiovascular risk associated with severe mental illness.