Trilateral mental health program renewed
On the 9th August 2017 Asia Australia Mental Health (AAMH) celebrated the signing of a renewed tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Melbourne signalling an ongoing commitment to a long term collaboration in mental health between the three highly ranked universities.
The concept for the original and ground-breaking MoU signed in 2006, was to help build capacity of China’s health and mental health workforce to deliver appropriate community mental healthcare and rehabilitation.
“At that time, we needed to train many thousands of Chinese case managers to support the implementation of the 686 program, China’s new national mental health strategy,” explained Professor Yu Xin of Peking University Institute of Mental Health, “and we needed to find a solution that would allow our trainees to have practical experience of community mental health service. Knowing that only a very small group could come to Melbourne, we worked with our partners from AAMH at the University of Melbourne and the Chinese University of Hong Kong to set up training centres in Beijing, Hong Kong and Melbourne as a way to build capacity.”
“After a decade of ongoing fruitful collaboration, the tripartite program is well on the way to achieving its original goals. Our colleagues are now expert in delivering community mental health training program, having directly and indirectly training thousands of case managers and other mental health specialists,” said AAMH’s Professor Chee Ng.
The renewed MoU signed by Professor Wing Yun-Kwok Wing, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Professor Shitij Kapur, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences reflects changing contexts and priorities for the three signatories, with the terms of the MoU expanded to include a strong focus on building innovative tripartite collaborations in mental health and psychiatric research.