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WAPR HEAD OFFICE.
President:
Lourdes
Ladrido-Ignacio.
Dept.
Psychiatry. College of Medicine.
University
of Philipines.
P Gil
St. Manila.
Tel.
Fax ++ 63 2 5251 767l
lounov@yahoo.com
Treasurer:
Eugenio
P. Ladrido.
#4
Abad Santos St Heroes Hills
Quezon
City, Philipines.
Tel.:
++ 63 2 371 3587
epladrido@gmial.com
Secretary General:
Ricardo
Guinea
Hospital
de Dia Madrid
c/
Manuel Marañon, 4
28043-Madrid
SPAIN
Tel.
+ 34-91-759-6692
guinea@hdmadrid.org
WAPR is registered as a non-profit
organization in France and Italy;
it
is recognized as a charity in
Madras (India) and Edinburgh,
(Scotland, U.K),
registered as a
voluntary, non-profit organization
in New York State
(U.S.A.) WAPR
has a constitution approved at
Vienne in 1986, amended at
Barcelona
in 1989, at Montreal in 1991,
and at Dublin in 1993.
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Presidential
Address at Bangalore World Congress:
Nov
15 2009
The
other day as he opened the 10th World Congress for Psychosocial
Rehabilitation, Prof Michael Madianos concluded his Presidential Address
with a note of optimism. He pointed to the advances in psychosocial
rehabilitation field that are not only evidence based but value based PSR
strategies. This will allow is to undertake the dynamic processes that will
facilitate for individuals the improvement of their competencies and reach
their optimal level of independent functioning in the community, The complex
nature of these strategies vary according to geopolitical economic and
cultural characteristics of the setting where PSR is provided. But, despite,
the continuing socioeconomic deprivation in the midst of unfavorable
sociopolitical environments the
experiences especially in many low income countries in providing effective
interventions so that the psychosocial needs of the chronic mentally
disabled are met provide us the optimism and the positive direction towards
our patient’s recovery and
their quest for meaning in their lives. This allows us to continue to meet
our goal which is to improve the quality of life of our patients and their
families.
We
hope to sustain this optimism as we steer the ship for WAPR through troubled
waters within its midst and outside. We have had a taste of unpleasant
divisiveness but we have been able to overcome this and we now hope to heal
and move on, once again united and collegial, and assured by the fact that
WE ARE ONE in WAPR to fulfill our mission which is to promote the personal
social and vocational rehabilitation of persons affected by serious
psychiatric disorders throughout the world. Because of our commitment to
this cause we are able to identify how we can be similar in our aspirations
and programs, transcend our own difficulties including our professional and
personal differences, so that our patients and their families are regarded
with respect and dignity and are given every opportunity to fulfill their
aspirations like any human being.
In the first six months we should be able to put the organization of
our Association in place. We shall activate the Executive Committee as
provided for in our Constitution. We shall explore the possibility of a
regularly scheduled teleconference in implementing the function of this
Committee. Through our current 2 Vice Presidents we expect to activate and
collaborate with the Regional Vice Presidents and their Deputies, programs
and activities in the countries in their respective Regions. Through this we
hope we can effectively touch base with national branches or secretaries,
and therefore be more able to participate in their programs. This is
expected to provide us the necessary data to be able to determine the value
of each country to our movement while at the same time give countries values
for the purposes of their rights to vote in Association affairs. Today, we
had the advise of Past Presidents and the new members of the Board to put as
high priority the documentation of best practice programs in different areas
and share this information electronically as soon as possible.
We
shall review the work of the many Committees and focus on programs that
would be of high relevance at this time. We need your help in choosing the
many experts in our midst to lead these Committees and carry out effectively
these programs. We are reminded by our Past Presidents that we should
continue to focus on substantive matters for our organization. While we
recognize that administrative procedural matters are important in
functioning effectively, a more crucial issue is that we carry out the
mission for which we have been founded. We find that this Committee work, if
carried out effectively is crucial to our success.
The
need to improve our communication will be addressed soonest. This is
recognized as one of the best ways to generate maximum participation among
our officers but more importantly our members worldwide. We believe that the
management of the affairs of our Association will be maximized if officers
are able to see each other more closely through the webcam. Logically
through this, they can decide on important matters more immediately. Because
of the difficulties of travel for
meetings, we shall explore the possibility of teleconferences to conduct
this, especially Board meetings. An e-group among our officers has been
suggested. Our website remains and our Secretary General will continue to be
our moderator. He appeals for our active participation by contributing
materials/ articles for alone he will not be able to carry this out
effectively in the manner we expect to project our Association to the world.
Last
year, there was agreement that the Consensus Statement on Psychosocial
Rehabilitation be reviewed and possibly revised. We await the report of the
Committee. What has come out in consultation today, with the new members of
the Board, is that we consider expanding the breath of our coverage for
psychosocial rehabilitation programs to include survivors of extreme life
experiences who after these experiences of adversity, tremendous loss and
displacement of their lives would need psychosocial rehabilitation programs
so that they survive, and become empowered to take an active role in their
recovery. This is especially true for those who come from countries who are
vulnerable to disasters both human induced and natural disasters. Many of us
have had to respond to these with the provision of psychosocial intervention
programs. And, as we do these, we realize that this becomes the door to the
development and continuing implementation of mental health and psychosocial
rehabilitation programs for those with mental health problems and mental
disorders. I have seen this as true in my country which is a country highly
vulnerable to these disasters, where the sensitivity of the community to the
psychosocial consequences of these disasters have made them more open to
develop the much needed PSR programs especially for those with serious
mental disorders who otherwise would have remained untreated and in serious
dehumanized conditions.
This
morning the new members of the Board our Association, met to discuss their
assessment of where our Association is at this point and their vision of
WAPR in the next 3 years. They were one in saying that we should be able to
share our programs, experiences and research findings, more often than every
3 years in world congresses. We acknowledge that we need procedures and
observe bureaucratic methods in running an effective organization, but we
want to assure everyone that we shall direct our efforts to promote programs
and activities that would put more substance and meaning to why we have
joined this association. We heed the call of our Past Presidents and other
esteemed colleagues to plan our programs and activities so that we can truly
be a consultative body on issues regarding psychosocial rehabilitation to
international and national organizations who in fact have looked at us for
scientific as well as practical guidelines in the implementation of PSR
programs.
My
favorite quote these days is “a thousand journeys can only start if we
take the necessary first step. We are now taking this, Thank you for your
trust in electing us to this position. With your support we are optimistic
that we can DO it!
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