‘Effective models for service delivery and interpretation in mental health services’—the Annual Conference of the Transcultural Special Interest Group—will take place on 26 February 2003 at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 17 Belgrave Square, London. For further details please contact Mrs G. Medhurst on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays at Barts and The London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry (tel: 020 7882 7555; fax: 020 7882 7551; e-mail: [email protected]).

MindFields College would like to announce the study day ‘New ways to improve psychiatric care’ to be held at various venues nationwide, up until June 2003. It shows how effective brief therapy interventions can bring your work into alignment with what neuroscientists, psychologists and leading psychotherapists are finding out about best treatment. The day explores why psychotherapy usually has better outcomes than drug treatments for depression, trauma, anxiety disorders and psychosis, and examines how to improve the partnership between psychiatry and psychotherapy in community mental health teams. For more information, please visit their website (www.mindfields.org.uk/studyday) or contact MindFields College (tel: 01323 811440; e-mail: [email protected]) quoting SB01.

The 14th International Symposium for the Psychological Treatments of Schizophrenia and other Psychosis: ‘Reconciliation, Reform and Recovery—Creating a future for psychological interventions in psychosis’ will take place on 22–25 September 2003, Melbourne Convention Centre, Australia. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 1 March 2003. Main speakers will include Professors Pat McGorry, Ian Falloon, Jeremy Holmes, Jim van Os, Richard Bentall, Frank Margison, TK Larsen and John Read. For further details please contact ISPS, C/-Conference Strategy Pty Ltd, Post Office Box 1127, Sandringham Victory 3191, Australia (tel: +61 395218881; fax: +61 395218889; e-mail: [email protected]; website: www.conferencestrategy.com.au).

Solutions in Mind: Alcohol and Severe Mental Illness (SMI) will take place on 4 March 2003. This one-day national conference organised by Alcohol Concern, the national agency for alcohol misuse, will be held at the Manchester Conference Centre, UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology). The conference explores the link between alcohol and SMI, and provides practical guidance on how clinicians and services might better plan appropriate treatment responses. For further information please contact Slade Carter at Alcohol Concern (tel: 020 7922 8657; e-mail: [email protected]) or visit the Alcohol Concern website: www.alcoholconcern.org.uk.

‘In This Together’—14th Annual Durham Research Conference on Autism will take place on 9–11 April 2003 at Van Mildert College, University of Durham, Durham. The conference will be an opportunity to present new, incomplete and planned research in the field of autism and related areas, as well as to obtain essential feedback from colleagues. Particularly welcome are submissions from research and practice in the areas of education, behavioural/psychiatric intervention, pharmacological/biomedical diagnosis and genetics. For further details please contact Gillian Linfoot, Conference Office, Autism North Ltd, 6–7 The Cloisters, Sunderland, SR2 7BD (tel: 0191 563 7755; fax: 0191 563 7711; e-mail: [email protected]) or visit the following website: http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/autism.

The Midland Course In Group Work With Children & Adolescents 2003 will take place in Northampton over the following three weekends: 31 May–1 June 2003; 14–15 June 2003; and 28–29 June 2003. This course is for professionals who are interested in group work with children and adolescents, whether they are beginners or have already had experience of group work. For further information and to obtain an application form please contact: Dr Kedar Dwivedi, Course Director, c/o 1 Becket Way, Northampton NN3 6EX (tel: 01604 604 608; fax: 01604 604 531; e-mail: [email protected]).

The 26th Annual Meeting of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CCNP) will be held on 1–4 June 2003 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. For further information, please contact Dr Lalit Srivastava, Douglas Hospital Research Center, 6875 LaSalle Boulevard, Verdun, Quebec, Canada H4H 1R3 (tel: +514 761 6131 ext. 2936; fax: +514 762 3034; e-mail: [email protected]).

The North London Centre for Group Therapy will be holding a group-analytic weekend workshop entitled ‘The ISMS in Groups: Conflict and Difference’ on 27–29 June 2003. The workshop will take place at The North London Centre for Group Therapy. Further details can be obtained from Lesley Holmes, The North London Centre for Group Therapy, 138 Bramley Road, Oakwood, London N14 4HU (tel: 020 8440 1451, fax: 020 8449 3847; e-mail: [email protected]).