From the President’s Desk – April 2025

During this period of geosociopolitical instability and conflict that threatens to destabilize the world order, the mission of the WCCBT takes on even greater salience. The WCCBT remains committed to building a global alliance and creating a worldwide impact by using evidence-based treatments to improve mental health. Last year was an extraordinary year for the WCCBT with all our members and collaborators organizing successful conferences to disseminate CBT across the globe.  As president, I was honored to participate in the Asian CBT Association (ACBTA) Conference in India organized by the Indian Association of CBT;  in the Asociación Latinoamericana de Análisis y Modificación de la Conducta y Terapia Cognitiva Conductual (ALAMOC) Congress in Bolivia, South America hosted by the Bolivian Association of CBT;  in the CBT Association of South Africa Conference in Cape Town, South Africa;  in the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) Conference in Philadelphia, USA, and in the World Health Organization’s (W.H.O) Mental Health Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. This year, I look forward to celebrating ALAMOC’s 50th anniversary in Bogotá, Colombia, the triennial International Association of CBT (IACBT) conference in Nashville, USA and the European Association of CBT (EABCT) conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Keith Dobson (CABCT) and I (ABCT) continued to provide feedback on the WHO’s CBT materials and worked to disseminate them across the globe. The Training Committee, headed by IACBT’s Mehmet Sungur, successfully published WCCBT’s training guidelines on our website and submitted a publication to the peer reviewed journal Behavior Therapy. The Communication Committee chaired by EABCT’s Andreas Veith,  drew representatives from all WCCBT members to disseminate evidence-based materials across social media platforms.  EABCT’s Rod Holland gathered events and achievements of all our members and collaborators on our website and published two immensely successful WCCBT e-newsletters. It takes a village to create a worldwide impact. Many thanks go to the WCCBT board (outgoing past-president) Keith Dobson, Rod Holland (Secretary), Ross Menzies (Treasurer), Mehmet Sungur (Rep-at-Large), Andreas Veith (Rep-at-Large), Julio Obst Camerini, Ron Chambers, David Dozois, Daisuke Fujisawa, Nimisha Kumar,  Lynn McFarr, Luis Oswaldo Pérez Flores, Maria do Céu Salvador, and Leslie Sokol for their partnership and collegiality in driving our goals and objectives forward.

I also want to express my gratitude to ABCT’s board and Central office for continuing to provide generous administrative support to the WCCBT (outgoing ABCT Executive Director Mary Jane Eimer, Outgoing Senior Director David Teisler, outgoing President Sandra Pimentel, current President Steve Safren, current Executive Director Courtney L. White, Senior Directors Stephen Crane and Kelli Long,  Director Stephanie Schwartz, Managers Tonya Childers and Rachel Lamb, and Administrative Specialist Maryilyn Brown).

And finally to the core administrative team. I want to begin by thanking ACBTA’s outgoing WCCBT social media liaison Alvin Lai Oon Ng for his work launching our social media platforms.  My continued admiration and gratitude go to executive assistant Anne D’Alessandro,  doctoral student Lila Bruynesteyn and college graduate Joshua Plutchik from New York, USA for their incredible hard work, skill and dedication coordinating, creating, and contributing to the mission of the WCCBT.

Warm regards,

Lata K. McGinn, PhD
President, World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (WCCBT)
www.wccbt.org