Advanced Skills in Community Psychiatry

The practice of psychiatry in the western world has changed in the last few decades from being based in institutions to within the community. Modern primary care and community mental health settings present different opportunities and challenges for the medical practitioner compared with hospital environments. These include working more effectively with consumers and carers as well as an often complex service system involving multiple agencies. Medical practitioners need to be aware of specific community based treatment strategies and to critically appraise the evidence for these treatments and service models. Recovery processes are also better understood and should be incorporated in treatment plans. Ethical, cultural, socio-economic and political issues all impact on primary care and community psychiatry and practitioners need to be cognizant of these. In this selective, students will gain an in-depth understanding of primary care and community psychiatry as well as acquiring some advanced skills in treatment and service planning and delivery appropriate to these settings.