From the Kauppi Campus - Newa from WAIMH Central Office

In Finland we in the WAIMH Central office staff are experiencing the autumn, with the dark winter time approaching. As WAIMH is a global multicultural association connecting colleagues from different seasons and continents, we wish also to appreciate seasonal and cultural differences.

The Cape Town congress abstract submission closes October 15. The submission process has been quite fluent. We encourage as many of you as possible to participate in the congress, which looks like becoming a great success, with the amount of presentations being at least the same as in the 11th World Congress in Yokohama, Japan (2008). As you may already know, the Cape Town registration site has opened and the Early Bird rate for members closes on Dec 31.

We would like to challenge each one of you to market the congress and to inspire your colleagues to join us in Cape Town.

For the first time ever individuals and organisations, eg affiliates, can donate participation fees to persons from developing countries. The Sponsor a Delegate –program has been developed by the Local organising committee in Cape Town, South Africa. Read more in the Congress website!

On the last page of the Signal we announce the nominations and applications for WAIMH Awards. At World Congresses WAIMH recognises members across the world who have made important contributions to the infant mental health community. Please be active, since the deadline is November 30.

At the Cape Town congress the presidency of WAIMH will be passed from Antoine Guedeney to our current President Elect Miri Keren. After the congress the Board of Directors will elect a new President Elect, but before that all the members of WAIMH shall elect one new Director to our Board of Directors to replace Antoine as a Board Member. The Central Office will launch the election by calling for nominations. All WAIMH members 2011 will have the possibility to nominate candidates this autumn and to vote for the new Board member in an online electronic voting procedure in the beginning of next year.

As you can read in this Signal, our Board member Deborah Weatherston from the Michigan Affiliate has made an initiative for creating a Celebrating the Baby -week. Maybe we could join her initiative and organise a day or week with the same theme of celebrating babies and their families in all the affiliates around the world! So please read the guidelines on page 17, and join the events internationally October 24-28, 2011!