Dear WAIMH Members
Some time has passed since some of us met at the 2024 WAIMH Interim World Congress in Tampere. Those of you who were there will agree with me that it was a welcoming and warm event. Finland is a beautiful country, with friendly people and with digital efficiency! My thanks go to the organizing committee in Tampere – the care they took in organizing and hosting was seen and felt.
Coming from the so-called Global South, I was particularly interested to hear about the various projects taking place in the Scandinavian countries. The reach of WAIMH membership is wide, and as part of that I am very happy to welcome new colleagues from various countries onto the Board, as well as old colleagues in new roles. I am excited by the broadening of our global representation. WAIMH is able to enjoy and benefit from diversity amongst its members – this is something I treasure. We can all learn from one another and be united in our efforts to lessen the burden that our infants and young children and their families are forced to carry.
We are in the midst of global crises – what is happening to the youngest in so many parts of the world is horrifying. “Each trauma is a world onto its own” a colleague told me – and nothing can be more true. Be this in Sudan, Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine. The suffering is too difficult to watch, and yet we must bear witness – this being the only thing which many of are able to do.
One way in which we at WAIMH are trying to do this is by speaking with each other – right now it is via webinars and in our publication Perspectives. We hope to begin conversations with each other – we have a contribution of personal experiences from our colleagues from different parts of the world and it is our wish that this will become a space where we can share difficulties, ask for advice, and also receive helpful information.
The workshops and the conference held in Palestine and organized by the Center for Educational Studies and Applications CARE in July and August of this year, were an example of what can be done in the midst of an impossibly turbulent and dangerous time. To focus on mental health when physical survival is under threat is a challenge, but it was done with the help of community and broader societal and institutional participation.
This work was discussed at a combined Affiliate plus Global Crises working group meeting in September 2024 and will be continued with a presentation from Israel in November. In this way we are hoping to be able keep our focus on the infants and young children that are suffering, without being drawn into endless and unhelpful ‘yes, but’ political debates.
Our eyes are also on the forthcoming 19th WAIMH World Congress in Toronto in October 2026. We are working towards having presentations from different perspectives in infant mental health that will speak to clinicians, researchers, and policy makers.
In the meantime, it is our hope that peace will eventually prevail and that our common humanity will be what counts.
Authors
Astrid Berg, Cape Town, South Africa
President of WAIMH, Emerita A/Professor at the University of Cape Town, Extraordinary A/Professor at Stellenbosch University
