Friday, Oct. 28
10:45 – 11:45 (1 hr)
Meeting Room: Maple (Mezzanine)
Lisa Andermann*, MD; Kenneth Fung, MD; G. Eric Jarvis, MD
Supported by the Transcultural Psychiatry Section

CanMEDS Roles:

1. Communicator
2. Leader
3. Professional

At the end of this session, participants will be able to: 1) Learn about Cultural Psychiatry Day and its impact on residents and medical educators across Canada; 2) Recognize and review key topics of cultural psychiatry for residency training; and 3) Understand the need for safe learning spaces where residents can raise authentic concerns about diversity and their role in local mental health care systems.

With ever-increasing cultural diversity in Canada, mental health providers must provide culturally competent care to diverse populations. The main educational initiative of the transcultural psychiatry section of the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) has been the ongoing organization of the annual Cultural Psychiatry Day videoconference. The event grew out of a local half-day for psychiatry residents at the University of Toronto and is now a national, accredited, multisite videoconference, usually hosted by either the University of Toronto or McGill University, with outreach to most universities in Canada with medical schools.

The event aims to introduce psychiatry residents and mental health professionals to principles of cultural psychiatry, both theory and clinical practice. Keynote speakers and panels review topics of national interest, together with a resident case presentation, using the DSM-5 outline for cultural formulation to highlight relevant themes.

Topics since 2010 have included trauma and resilience among refugees, physician-assisted death, the DSM-5 cultural formulation interview, the construction of otherness, Indigenous mental health, acculturation in children and adolescents, spirituality, racism in psychiatry, and advocacy in psychiatry (2022).

This workshop will review and summarize feedback from the seminars over the last 12 years and will seek input from participants about how to improve Cultural Psychiatry Day along two main themes: 1) providing a safe and welcoming discussion space for residents to learn about key issues facing Canadian society and their impact on mental health and 2) preparing the next generation of psychiatrists to better care for a diverse society.

References:

1. Kirmayer LJ, Fung K, Rousseau C, et al. Guidelines for training in cultural psychiatry. Can J Psychiatry 2021;66:195–246.
2. Aggarwal NK, Jarvis GE, Gómez-Carrillo A, et al. The Cultural Formulation Interview since DSM-5: prospects for training, research, and clinical practice. Transcult Psychiatry 2020;57:496–514.