Alianza Latina WFSAD
History
The Alianza Latina WFSAD (the WFSAD Latin American Alliance of Family organizations) is a loose affiliation of family self-help, support and advocacy groups working in Latin America (Mexico, Central and South America).
The first international meeting convened by WFSAD in order to bring these groups together took place during the 2002 congress of the Latin American Psychiatric Association (Asociacion Psychiatria America Latina - APAL) in Guatemala City.
As a result of this meeting the group of family associations issued a declaration of intent, now known as the Guatemala Declaration and proposed meeting a second time for mutual education and leadership development.
A second meeting of an enlarged group of family associations took place the following year during the Regional Meeting of the World Psychiatric Association in Caracas. A report of this meeting appears below. Prior to the meeting WFSAD conducted a survey to determine the level of development of each organization, so that progress maybe measured as each priority issue is addressed.
The Alianza was very pleased by the warm welcome afforded to us by the organizers and the services extended to us during the meeting. The intent of the Guatemala Declaration was confirmed, and the organizations went away to form ideas as to how to implement the declaration.
We were very fortunate to have the sponsorship of Pfizer Neuroscience and the Pfizer Foundation respectively for the meetings in Guatemala and Caracas and AstraZeneca for funds to develop the benchmark survey.
In November 2004 a small number of Alianza Latina WFSAD members conducted a symposium and had private meetings at the APAL meeting held in Punta del Este, Uruguay. For this meeting the host family organization was La Esperanza.
The Alianza Latina WFSAD continues to exchange news on a weekly if not daily basis. Support calls which come to WFSAD through its Spanish website are regularly referred to appropriate organizations. A private web page is maintained for the use of the Alianza members who may post any information of international interest there.
An international bulletin with news from the region is posted every three months or so and is now available in PDF on Alianza Latina Spanish page of this site.
Three-Country Visit to Central and South America
WFSAD President Elect Martha Piatigorsky and Secretary Diane Froggatt
conducted a visit under the WFSAD program "Strengthening Families
through Empowerment" in November, 2005. Their visit took them to
Lima Peru, where their host was the family organization ALAMO under the
leadership of Elena Chavez. The second stop on their itinerary was El
Salvador where they met with ASFAE, the family organization in San Salvador,
led by Clara Emery. Lastly they travelled to Costa Rica and to FUCOPEZ
the family organization led by Maritza Meza. Reports of the visits are
available either from the hosting nation organization or from WFSAD. If
you read Spanish you may access the Boletín Internacional under
Alianza Latina on the Spanish part of this site.
Organizations taking part in the WFSAD Alianza Latina are:
ARGENTINA Buenos Aires APEF www.apef.org.ar FUBIPA leogu@icatel.net ALA anapetrozzino@yahoo.com.ar Cordoba ACAPEF acapefprensa@arnet.com.ar Jujuy AJUPEF padillae@imagine.com.ar Mar Del Plata AMAPEF anapetrozzino@yahoo.com.ar Mendoza AMFE elifurlan@hotmail.com BOLIVIA Quito FUNSAME www.funsame.org BRASIL Saó Paulo ABRE niltonvargas@aol.com COSTA RICA San Jose FUCOPEZ EL SALVADOR San Salvador ASFAE clariza@telesal.net ECUADOR Quito FECAPE mpa@interactive.net.ec MEXICO Mexico D.F. AFAPE mail@itoa.com.mx AMATE amate1@prodigy.net.mx VOZ PRO SALUD MENTAL PANAMA Panama Ciudad ANFAPEEM anfapeem@cwpanama.net PERÚ Lima ALAMO abuelena@yahoo.com SURINAM Paramaribo YPSILON dawson@sr.net URUGUAY Montevideo LA ESPERANZA ruffi@adinet.com.uy ASSOC NACIONAL DE AYUDA AL CNRP apoyocnrp@montevideo.com.uy VENEZUELA Maracaibo CATESFAM catesfam@cantv.net Caracas Fundación Venezolana del Paciente Bipolar y sus Familiares bipolarven@hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________________________
2nd Meeting of Latin American Family Organizations October 2003
WFSAD Symposium and Workshops
at World Psychiatric Regional Congress, Caracas, Venezuela
October 1, 2:30-4:30 p.m., Salón Flamboyán |
|
Symposium: Families, Consumers and Professionals Working Together Chair and Facilitator: Dr. Itzhak Levav Speakers: Dr. Edgardo Engelmann: Porqué y cómo tomar medicamentos aunque no sea lo normal Prof. Julian Leff: Co-operation Not Conflict: The Strategy for Solving the Problems of Schizophrenia Prof. Dale Johnson: Family Education or Behavioral Family Psychoeducation: Making a Choice |
October 2, 09:00-10:30, Salón Ceiba |
|
Workshop: How Professionals Can Benefit from Working with Families and Family Organizations - Panel/Audience Discussion Chair and Facilitator: Dr. Itzhak Levav A panel of the previous speakers plus the three persons named below will answer questions relative to their experience and affiliation. Ms. Diane Froggatt, WFSAD Executive Director Sr. Francisco Morata Andreo, President FEAFES Spain (Spanish family federation) Sra. Damelis Salazar, CATESFAM President (family organization in Maracaibo) |
Symposium
The symposium was well attended. Dr. Itzhak Levav was an excellent chairman,
taking great care to get the most out of both the sessions he chaired.
There were ample questions and a positive response from the audience.
The speeches of the three speakers were well received and will be available
to WFSAD members and Caracas delegates upon request.
Morning Workshop
Diane Froggatt briefly outlined the work of WFSAD. Damelis Salazar introduced
herself as one of the panelists and described the work of CATESFAM, whose
mission was to be a centre of excellence allowing people with schizophrenia
to work on their own recovery following the 10-step model applied by patient
and family. Francisco Morata spoke of the work of the Spanish federation
of mental health organizations, FEAFES.
This session was designed as an interactive workshop to discuss the subject matter of the symposium. Questions ranged from how to persuade people to go for treatment to the ethics of compulsory treatment. The problems of patients living at home with their families and the need for respite for such families was particularly relevant in countries where there is no community housing for those with psychiatric problems.
Dr. Juan Mas Vivanco, a Chilean psychiatrist, brought his session to our room when one of the speakers for his session did not arrive, and took an active part. Sad to say he described a situation in Chile, which left patients "totally discarded" despite attempts at reform.
Damelis Salazar of CATESFAM, Maracaibo, Venezuela, asks a question during the symposium. In the foreground are Sergio Ruffinelli and Ofelia Stajano of Esperanza, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Afternoon Closed Private Sessions
The closed sessions were designed as educational and informative workshops
for family-leader-delegates. The room was set up with five round tables
to enable small-group discussion. An important objective of these sessions
was to re-affirm the goals of the Guatemala
Declaration, dated July 13, 2002, written at the first meeting of
the Alianza Latina WFSAD in Guatemala. Members might decide to revise
the goals in the light of the increased membership in the Alianza Latina
WFSAD.
People settled readily to this task. The small-group format proved to be an excellent way for delegates to get to know about each other's work, and to discuss the efficacy of the Guatemala Declaration.
The session re-affirmed that the ten issues in the Declaration were still significant. The new points raised enhanced, rather than changed, its intent. These will be formulated into an addendum to the Guatemala Declaration entitled the Caracas Addendum.
During the meeting each organization received a copy of the results of the WFSAD survey of Alianza Latina WFSAD members, conducted from July-September 2003. This document describes the activities, current priority issues, and obstacles of each organization. There was no formal discussion of this material but we were able to highlight several of the more interesting initiatives by asking delegates to give short presentations focusing on these. The document will serve as a benchmark for operationalizing the Guatemala Declaration in each country in the next year.
Joyce Dawson (Ypsilon, Surinam) spoke of the very rewarding experience of going into the schools and how the children became much more sympathetic once they had actually met people with mental disorders. They began by educating the teachers, first about Tourettes and autism and going on to the other disorders. "Our children are the future. How they behave determines our society," she told the group. A patient accompanies the team. "This helps the children to realize that you can be normal from the outside but who knows what may have happened inside. Part of our teaching was to show children how to talk without causing wounds, and accept people as they are." Joyce's presentation was short but affecting.
Dr. Raimundo Muscellini talked about the clubhouse 'Casa Club,' that ACAPEF Argentina has set up to help improve the recovery of patients. Cognitive psychotherapy and social skills training are given along with employment and recreational activities. Families were involved and became partners in treatment. We "don't leave them alone in the chaos," he explained. For the patients the main objective was social insertion, giving help to those who need it to live in the community. Hospitals were part of the past.
Francisco Morata, President of FEAFES, Spain, spoke about how to persuade the media not to sensationalize mental illness. We hope to put this talk on the website in both Spanish and English.
Pfizer Venezuela hosted a reception at a very nice restaurant. Thanks to Oswaldo Parilli of Pfizer and his colleagues for this truly lovely event.
Delegates listen attentively to a speaker during the private workshops.
Morning Workshop 3rd October
Prof. Julian Leff conducted an interactive two-hour workshop. Notes on
his presentation are available to members upon request. One very interesting
point he made was the new thinking about hallucinations and delusions
that suggests that people can be assisted to overcome them. The previous
thinking was that delusions were beliefs that were "impervious to
reasoned thought" and that families should not aggravate things by
trying to change them.
Cecilia Villares (ABRE, Brazil) presented an informative slide show about her organization's experience with the WPA program "Open the Doors." This program is designed to fight stigma and discrimination at the local level. We hope to provide more detailed information about this shortly.
|
Private Workshops - 2nd October 2:00 - 4:00
p.m.
|
|
|
Benvenido - Welcome
|
Diane Froggatt Interpreter: Gail Grossman, Chile Karina Stone, WFSAD |
|
De Guatemala a Hoy Background on the Alianza Latina WFSAD |
Martha Piatigorsky y Dale Johnson |
|
La Declaracion de Guatemala The Guatemala Declaration 30 minute Break-Out sessions |
Delegates met in tables of 8 to discuss the Guatemala
Declaration. Each table provided its input.
|
|
Reducing sensational journalism |
Francisco Morata
|
|
2 October: 4:30 - 6 p.m.
|
|
|
From information from the questionnaire several
topics were chosen for presentation during the next sessions
|
|
|
Escuelas/ Schools
|
Joyce Dawson, Ypsilon, Surinam
|
|
Clubhouse-ACAPEF Argentina
|
Dr. Raimundo Muscellini, ACAPEF, Argentina
|
|
Fondos/ Fundraising
|
CATESFAM
|
|
Reducing Sensational Journalism
|
Francisco Morata, FEAFES, Spain
|
|
WELCOME RECEPTION - PFIZER NEUROSCIENCE @ 7:30, 2nd October |
|
|
Morning 3rd October 9:00 - 12:00
|
|
|
9:00-11:00: Workshop
|
Prof. Julian Leff, UK
|
|
11:00-12:00:Stigma
|
ABRE-Brazil-Cecilia Villares
|
|
Closing Remarks
|
Diane Froggatt, Dale Johnson
|
How our sessions were received
All the sessions were received positively. There was great appreciation
for the printed materials provided and the subjects covered. The small-group
sessions were a great success. Inevitably, a few people expressed disappointment
that there was not more time or that there was a need to cover more topics.
There was an overall feeling of joy among our delegates at having a second meeting of Latin families. They have each contacted us since returning home. Both WFSAD and the Alianza Latina WFSAD are anxious to continue the relationships and to build the network in the hope of enabling advocacy for, and implementation of, better care for those who suffer mental illness through no fault of their own. The plan to meet again in one year (see below) provides an impetus for the Alliance to continue to improve the capacity of their organizations for self-help, support and advocacy.
Dr Edgardo Engelmann (Argentina), Prof. Dale Johnson (WFSAD President Elect), Prof. Julian Leff (UK) and Dr. Itzhak Levav (Israel) take a break between sessions.
Future Initiatives
After the final WFSAD session, a committee was formed to plan for another
meeting of the Alianza Latina WFSAD during the APAL meeting in Punta
del Este, Uruguay, November 17-20, 2004. The committee is composed
of Sergio Ruffinelli Villaamil (Esperanza, Uruguay), Ofelia Stajano (Esperanza
Uruguay) Elena Saban (Alamo, Peru), Martha Piatigorsky (WFSAD V-P, Argentina)
and Diane Froggatt. A planning agenda was made and work will begin in
November 2003. Members of the Alianza will each try to raise their own
funding for this initiative. We informed Dr. Edgard Belfort (Uruguay)
of our intention to hold workshops at APAL next year and he offered to
help us in any way we might suggest. We are now urging the medical advisor
psychiatrists in Latin America, who support our work and are part of our
network, to apply to speak on family work at this congress as soon as
APAL is accepting abstracts.
Acknowledgements
We owe our sincere thanks to the Pfizer Foundation for sponsoring
this event under their program "Strengthening Patient Advocacy Around
the World" and to Pfizer Venezuela and their representative Osualdo
Parilli and his team for their attention to our requirements.
Dr. Itzhak Levav was a great support as chairman of two of the sessions. His eloquence, sensitivity and approachability made the sessions particularly special. He is a well-loved figure in Latin America as a former executive of the Pan American Health Organization.
He is now active in the WHO initiative to bring the private sector to bear on raising the profile of mental illness: The Global Council for Mental Health. WFSAD is part of one of the preliminary working groups in this initiative.
We would like to thank Dr. Edgard Belfort, the chair of the WPA organizing committee, for his kind attention to all the WFSAD delegates. Jose Manuel Juanatey, the staff member with whom Karina Stone (project coordinator) dealt throughout the preparations and during the meeting, was friendly, helpful and extremely efficient in solving any problems that arose.
Gail Grossman, a professional interpreter, did an excellent job of consecutive translation. We thank her for her agile mind, slipping in and out of English and Spanish so easily that the information was imparted with minimal delay.
Thanks also go to journalist Mariela Nunez of El Nacional,
whose half-page article with photograph in the newspaper helped to publicize
the family movement for mental illness in Venezuela.