From the President’s Desk – October 2023
Published On: October 1, 2023
It is now three months since the successful 2023 World Confederation of CBT (WCCBT) Congress in Seoul organized by the Korean Association of CBT and the Korean Clinical Psychology Association and held on behalf of the Asian CBT Association (ACBTA). Congratulations to the Co-Chairs of the Organizing Committee, Dr. Kee-Hong Choi and Dr. Kyong-Mee Chung, and to the Co-Chairs of the Scientific Committee Dr. Younghee Choi and Dr. Simon Blackwell for their tremendous work and creativity and for making us all feel welcome. I also want to thank Dr. Firdaus Mukhtar and the rest of the ACBTA leadership for providing colleagues across the globe with the opportunity to exchange ideas, form collaborations, and learn about the important work in CBT being conducted in Asia.
I want to thank Dr. Keith Dobson for his stellar leadership and achievements over the last four years as president of the WCCBT. It has been my sincere privilege to serve with him. Despite the tumultuous years we faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the WCCBT made major strides during his presidential term. The WCCBT received its formal incorporation, and thanks to ABCT’s generosity in providing the WCCBT with administrative support, we set up headquarters in New York City, the home of the United Nations. The WCCBT launched its website and e-newsletter thanks to Dr. Rod Holland and the EABCT. The WCCBT set up its first budget thanks to AACBT’s Ross Menzies, and formalized partnerships between ABCT and CACBT to form the North American Alliance and between AACBT and AnzaCBT to form the Australasia alliance. Thanks to AACBT’s Dr. Sarah Egan, the WCCBT created COVID-19 resources, nominated colleagues to the two W.H.O working groups on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and mental health and addictions. We also provided materials to the South African Association of CBT to assist them in their launch, launched April 7th as World CBT Day, launched the Global Ambassador program, and hosted a successful WCCBT congress in Asia thanks to ACBTA. And finally, with gratitude for WCCBT’s training committee, comprised of representatives from all our member associations and led by ALAMOC’s Dr. Luis Flores, the WCCBT completed and formally approved the WCCBT’s training guidelines this year.
As we look ahead, the future is bright for the World Confederation of CBT, and I am humbled to serve as WCCBT’s president over the next three years. I look forward to sharing my vision in the next edition of the e-News for what we hope to achieve over the next three years and I am honored to work alongside the WCCBT board and the boards of the WCCBT member associations to achieve these aims.
Warm regards,
Lata K. McGinn, PhD
President, World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (WCCBT)
www.wccbt.org