Dear colleagues,

EFPA is an association in which many people from a great number of countries are involved. We are united in the desire to advance psychology as a science and a profession. Every generation of psychologists could say "Especially in these times, psychology is particularly challenged." This is certainly true for us, as we still live in the time of the pandemic. With all caution, we begin to think about the post-pandemic era.

The United Nations is calling for a sustainable new beginning. Sustainability is not a new concern for us. EFPA has supported the UN's Sustainable Development Goals from the beginning. All of EFPA's groups are dedicated to individual goals or entire clusters of SDGs. This support is becoming even more concrete and high-profile. In the coming years, we are increasingly focusing on climate change. We are doing this together with our partner associations and in cooperation various UN bodies. To this end, we have adopted various concrete measures. This news magazine gives a first impression of them.

We report on activities and, not least, on a new hub that will make one thing clear: Psychology helps, and it also helps to avert climate change. I would like to thank you very much for your support of our plans and projects! I am glad that we are tackling the great tasks of psychology together! With heartfelt thanks for all your support and with all good wishes,

Christoph Steinebach, EFPA President

#EU4MentalHealth2

World Health Day - April 7, 2021
EFPA calls on the EU to make 'EU4Health count 4MentalHealth2' 

In coming together to celebrate this year’s World Health Day, EFPA welcomes the European Commission announcement on 26 March that the €5.1 bn EU4Health programme is coming into force. EFPA particularly welcomes the focus on improving and fostering health, enhancing accessibility of healthcare, and strengthening healthcare systems.

EFPA particularly welcomes the focus on improving and fostering health, enhancing accessibility of healthcare, and strengthening healthcare systems. The proposed areas of action and health priorities (2) including pandemic preparedness and transformation of accessibility of healthcare systems are undeniably essential.  Mental well-being of the citizens of Europe however must not be forgotten.  As the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe has made clear (3), mental health problems account for 19.5% of the burden of disease in the European Region, and 26% in European Union (EU) countries.  About 50% of major depressions are untreated.  The cost of mood disorders and anxiety in the EU is about €170 billion per year.  Yet the immense economic loss is only one of the consequences. 

Mental health problems also impair the lives of a large number of people who are directly and indirectly affected. This creates real challenges for families, friends, at work and in the community where they live.

Mental health is therefore a concern for all European citizens.

 In the wake of the pandemic, the need for help for people with mental illness is growing. Fear of COVID-19 illness, stress related from the long – term restrictions imposed on everyone, trauma from the illness itself, and the long-term effects of COVID-19 endanger mental health (4).

This is a public mental health challenge that needs to be met by a combination of further research and public health monitoring to determine (likely differing) specific country needs and evidence based strategies to meet the need, and comprehensive mental healthcare including mental well-being promotion.

Read full statement on EFPA website  

References

(1) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_1344

(2) https://ec.europa.eu/health/funding/eu4health

(3) https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/mental-health/news/news/2012/10/depression-in-europe/depression-in-europe-facts-and-figures

(4) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(21)00029-6/fulltext

European Journal of Psychology Open (EJPO) 

EFPA is delighted to have entered into a partnership with Hogrefe for an empirical journal which will complement the 25-year-old European Psychologist. The journal is the European Journal of Psychology Open (EJPO). 

The European Journal of Psychology Open publishes innovative, original, high-quality empirical papers from all fields of psychology. As the name implies, the journal has a European orientation and aims to promote modern open science practices. It also aims to promote young talents: fresh, modern, open, progressive, innovative. The journal publishes full-length original articles and brief reports describing single studies.“ 

More information can be found at www.hgf.io/epo.

Discover the latest edition in “Recommended publications” in this magazine 

The EFPA Board on Cultural and Ethnic Diversity and the Croatian Psychological Association
organise online symposium

"From Psychologist to Psychologist: A Diversity Approach to Multi-Crisis Situations.“

By: Iva Žegura

On 15th of April 2021, EFPA Board on Cultural and Ethnic Diversity (B CED) organised in collaboration with the Section for Clinical Psychology of the Croatian Psychological Association (CPA ) an online Symposium "From Psychologist to Psychologist: A Diversity Approach to Multi-Crisis Situations“. The idea for this Symposia was arisen as a support for Croatian psychologists who have to deal with series of devastating earthquakes parallel with COVID-19 pandemic in the previous year.

The Symposium was moderated by Ulrike de Ponte, convenor of B CED, and Iva Žegura, Head of CPA's Section for Clinical Psychology and member of B CED. Iva Žegura and Lotte De Schrijver, both members of the B CED, contributed by presenting their research and professional experience. 

EFPA's president, Christoph Seinebach, opened the Symposia highlightening the need of such professional exchange of knowledge. This idea was supported from the side of CPA's president and EFPA's EC member Josip Lopižić. 

 Ulrike de Ponte in her speach explained to all participants why minding intercultural issues has to be priority within EFPA as well in crisis situations. Magda Rooze the convenor of EFPA Standing Committee on Crisis, Disaster & Trauma presented the work of the Standing Committee and invited Croatian professionals to join the Committee. 


The presentations were bipartite: the first part provided an insight in the Croatian research in the field of disaster. Dean Ajduković, professor emeritus of the University Zagreb and leading expert in the field of trauma and crisis, made a speech on "Lessons learned: Disaster mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) preparedness, response, recovery and recommendation“. Furthermore, Croatian psychologists from academia and practice presented which role psychologists fill for dealing with stress, trauma and preventing burnout in organisations and mental health institutions. The situation in Croatia after earthquakes were depicted.

The second block of Symposium was opened by Martine Delfos and her lecture on “Generational and intergenerational trauma: the parent and child caught in diversity of trauma”. Experts from Belgium,  Finland and Luxembourg contributed with their research and professional experience.

We also bring to our readers the whole Programme of the Symposium, hoping that in future there will be more events like this, where EFPA has a leading role in supporting professionals and psychology as a profession.

Download the programme of the symposium here 

EFPA AWARDS 2021 postponed to European Congress of Psychology July 2022 

As a result of the postponing of the ECP 2021 to July 2022 the call for nominations for the EFPA awards 2021 has been rescheduled to end of 2021 and the awards will be presented at the European congress in July 2022 in Ljubljana. 

More information on the EFPA website 

Symposium ‘Lessons learned from the European Countries’
May 7, 2021.

The Symposium ‘Lessons Learned from the European Countries’  which was held on the 7^th of May 2021, offered a rich program with experiences from different European countries on crisis, disaster and trauma work and the role of psychologists in this field.

A broad spectrum of topics was covered: the situation of children in refugee camps and their needs where Medicins Sans Frontieres presented straight from the refugee camp on Lesbos in Greece, prevention of radicalization in Norway on the level of communities with an approach of ‘the healing relationship’, emergencies and the Russian impressive experiences and expertise from this large country, Covid-19 experiences from the Czech Republic with an excellent example of new communication tools for the psychosocial support of the general public, the situation of children of  war and the strong appeal to raise awareness of how we fail to protect them, 10 years after the terror attack in Norway with an impressive longitudinal study on the long term psychosocial consequences for families and close friends. 

 The Symposium was organized by the Standing Committee Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Psychology of EFPA together with the Norwegian Psychological Association who hosted the Symposium, and the Board of Human Rights and Psychology of EFPA.

The president of the Norwegian Psychological Association Håkon Kongsrud Skard opened the Symposium with a heartwarming speech on the importance of psychology and psychologists. He addressed the importance of mental health becoming a major topic in the current crisis of the Corona virus pandemic.

The Board of Human Rights and Psychology presented her new book “Human Rights Education for Psychologists” with contributions promoting a human rights psychology. 
The Symposium again showed the broad field of psychology and the many different topics it covers and the relevance for important societal issues even more so in the current global crisis we are in.

The Standing Committee Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Psychology will organize her next Symposium on the 15th of October 2021, hopefully with a real physical meeting, but we will also create the possibility of an online participation, so we can open up even for a wider audience. Because that is the positive lesson we learned  from this crisis.

Magda Rooze MA/MBA
Convenor Standing Committee Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Psychology EFPA
 Contact 

EFPA General Assembly meeting will be a virtual meeting and held on Tuesday, June 29, 2021!
More information will be sent by the end of this month.

Call for bids to organize the European Congress of Psychology in 2025

EFPA’s executive council launched a call for bids to organize the 19th ECP 2025.

Member associations are invited to send a letter of notification of intention to bid, which should arrive by June 1, 2021. The letter should set out which body is interested in organising the ECP, and the proposed location.

The formal bid proposal should follow the instructions as explained in the  ‘EFPA guidelines for the organisation of a European Congress of Psychology’.

Deadline bid proposal

The deadline for the bid proposal however is yet to be announced, probably end of September 2021.

“We wish to allow sufficient time for our member associations to organise a bid given the current context of the pandemic and the difficulties in contacting Congress centres for example in many European countries at present.
This means that the ECP bids will not be presented at the first virtual General Assembly of June 29, 2021,” explains Christoph Steinebach, EFPA President. 

The bid proposal will be reviewed by the Executive Council and, if approved, be presented to the 2nd EFPA General Assembly on December 10, 2021.

UPDATE - ECP Ljubljana 2021 postponed to July 5-8, 2022

Call for abstracts now open!

Submit abstract here  


Main conference topics  
 
ECP 2022 - Important dates:

• Call for abstracts open: May 2021
  
• Deadline for abstracts submission: November 10, 2021
• Notification of abstract acceptance: February 10, 2022
• Early Registration & Active participants deadline: March 10, 2022  
• Final programme & Publication of abstracts accepted: June 27, 2022

Important: EFPA awards 2021

As the ECP 2021 has moved to 2022 there will be no call for nominations for EFPA awards 2021.The call for nominations for EFPA awards 2022 will be launched mid 2021.