From the President’s Desk – May 2021

As I write this communication, it is mid-May in 2021.  The world is more than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and as of today, there are 163 million documented cases and 3.38 million documented deaths according to the World Health Organization (see https://covid19.who.int/).  The actual numbers are likely much higher, and will unfortunately have continued to grow by the time you read this e-news bulletin. In light of the extreme effects of public health restrictions, economic downturns, global anxiety and the multitude dimensions of loss associated with the pandemic, it is no wonder that global rates of mental health problems have dramatically increased.

As with so many aspects of the pandemic, there have been ironies for the World Confederation of CBTs.  On the one hand, organizational slowdowns have made it much more challenging to obtain our formal registration as an organization, but this has been achieved. Travel restrictions and public health measures made it impossible to conduct the intended 2022 World Congress, but we will now achieve this success in June, 2023in Seoul.  The pandemic has made it difficult to begin some of our desired efforts to work with other organizations, although virtual meetings have allowed us to attend some meetings of the World Health Organization mental health and addictions groups, and to even make a submission about the potential role of the CBTs related to epilepsy and related disorders.  

With the official registration of the WCCBT we can now begin to more formally interact with other global organizations. Further, as the world gradually wends it way out of social and economic restrictions, lockdowns and health crises we will begin again to have more interaction focused on addressing some of the issues that the pandemic has highlighted.  These issues include social inequity, health disparity, the unattended needs of the elderly, the mental and physical health consequences of COVID-19, and more. The importance of global organizations, and the essential nature of evidence- based care could not have been laid more bare in recent months. These are the challenges to which we must respond.

Keith Dobson

President, WCCBT