Setting strategic directions in mental health policy and practice: the challenge of understanding and addressing the social determinants

Abstract

As anyone who has run a conference knows, a slick and/or sexy title is critical. Setting strategic directions in mental health policy and practice: the challenge of understanding and addressing the social determinants is neither. This conference was held in Cairns in September 2002 under the joint auspice of the Social and Cultural Section of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and the University of Queensland, but, like most major conferences, it was long in the planning – nearly 2 years. The seed was planted at a dinner following a meeting of the Social and Cultural Section, Western Australian Branch, in September 2000. Steeled by having witnessed the misery of colleagues who had strayed or been lured into organising a conference, the first author of this editorial (EH) resolved never to be so foolhardy. For better or worse, that resolve dissolved in the second or third glass of merlot and by the end of the evening, by design or default, the process had begun.