Behaviour disorder symposium

A symposium on child and adolescent psychiatry will be held on February 14 at the John Paul II Hall, Attard, organised by the Maltese Association of Psychiatric Nurses (MAPN).

The keynote speaker is Páll Biering, chairman of 'Project Self-discovery', a treatment and prevention programme in Iceland for adolescents with mental and behavioural disorders.

Mr Biering is an associate professor in psychiatric nursing at the University of Iceland, acts as an evaluator for the EU Seventh Framework research programme (FP7), and sits on the expert panel of the European Association for Psychiatric Nurses (HORATIO), and on the Scandinavian psychiatric nurses society board.

Other speakers include Amanda Said, who will talk about the adolescents' perceptions of mental health problems, Rosette Buhagiar, who will question whether the behaviour of a child with conduct disorder has an impact on the teacher/facilitator, and Audrey Carter, who will share her experience as a teacher working with children at Mount Carmel Hospital's Young People Unit.

Dr Nigel Camilleri and Dr Abigail Cassar Parnis will be discussing the findings of a study on the use of anti-psychotics on children, conducted in collaboration with consultant psychiatrist Dr Joseph Cassar.

Martin Ward, an independent mental health nurse consultant, will chair the symposium.

For further information, contact Kevin Gafà on 9982 5731 or e-mail: mapsychnurses@gmail.com. For information on MAPN events, visit www.map-n.com.