THE World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation-Philippines (WAPR) was established in 1986. It is a global organization that is composed of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other professionals with the mission to disseminate principles of psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery to improve the lives of people suffering from a mental condition.
And since WAPR has been given a grant by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) to undertake a study on “Defining the Mental Health Research Agenda in the Philippines,” an Experts Group Consultation through focus group discussion (FGD) was held last February 27, 2019 at the B Hotel, Scout Rallos Street, Brgy. Laging Handa, Quezon City.
The participants were welcomed by Dr. Lourdes Ignacio -- co-investigator of WAPR-PCHRD Project followed by the presentation of the projects preliminary findings from Dr. Lucy Lazo- WAPR President and Principal Investigator, PCHRD Research Project.
The highlight of the event was the FGD where issues and concerns in the conduct of mental health research that should be given attention and priority for the next five to 10 years. Experts in mental health like psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, and mental health administrators from UP Manila, University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Davao University, San Pedro College, Trinity University of Asia, Western Visayas Medical Center, Armed Forces of the Philippines – Medical Center among others joined the FGD.
The event ended successfully with a plenary session where sharing of group outputs and open forum allowed the participants to share their insights on mental health.
Personally, I find the event very informative as it discussed about the biggest challenges in mental health research. Indeed, the impacts of mental health know no boundaries.
Awesome job done by all attendees and everyone else that organized the event. Of course, it will not be that successful without the intellectual help of Dr. Lucita Lazo and Dr. Lourdes Ignacio.