When I think about what to talk about in the introduction to this new issue of Nordic Psychiatrist, the first thought that comes to mind is collaboration. This September, for the first time after a long quarantine period and its remote meetings, a live meeting of the board of Nordic Psychiatric associations (NPA) took place in Vilnius. The fact that almost all the board members and the editors of the two magazines gathered for it also shows that everyone misses live contact and that we have a lot to discuss. Although there were regular meetings in the virtual space throughout the quarantine period, it seemed that so many questions had accumulated that we barely had time to discuss everything in those couple of half days.
The meeting was attended by the heads of psychiatric associations of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden, as well as the so-called 6-year representatives. Such structure of the board allows to ensure the continuity of organizational and other work. Also in attendance, as always, were the editors of two NPA journals: the scientific The Nordic Journal of Psychiatry and the journal you are holding in your hands - The Nordic Psychiatrist. Those gathered discussed current affairs, got acquainted with each country's report on the situation in psychiatry and the mental health care system, listened to journal editors, discussed the expected Nordic Congress of Psychiatry, which will take place in 2024 in Riga (Latvia).
This September, for the first time after a long quarantine period and its remote meetings, a live meeting of the board of Nordic Psychiatric Associations took place in Vilnius. Click on thumbnails to expand all photos to full size. Images by Martin Vitkus.
And at the same time once again approved all important activities for which the board is responsible. Therefore, we hope that this issue of the magazine is not the last, and that the renewed editorial team will come up with many more attractive, relevant, and perhaps even provocative topics. It is not surprising that the theme of this issue is about life - the health of the fetus, newborns, babies, and their mothers. This is probably natural, since in the last issue we talked about war and the suffering that comes with it. After that, we wanted to talk about something hopeful and future-oriented.
Well, since this issue of the magazine will hopefully appear before the New Year, I want to wish each member of our community peace in the world (no matter how banal these words sound), and challenges and fun in personal work.
Best wishes,
Ramunė Mazaliauskienė, current chairman of Nordic Psychiatric associations □