Season’s Greetings – Message from the President

Dear Colleagues, dear Friends, dear EPA members,

As the year draws to a close, I would like to thank all of you – our members, National Psychiatric Associations, Scientific Sections, committees, partners, and the EPA team – for your commitment to patients, carers, families, as well as to one another. We are at a turning point in the life of our Association: our community continues to grow in both size and engagement, with individual membership increasing by more than 25% in 2025 and participation now extending across 47 NPAs. This growth reflects a shared confidence in the EPA’s vision and reinforces our collective responsibility to act as a community.

The EPA Executive Committee and Board met several times in the last months to develop new activities in the field of mental health in Europe. Since I assumed the Presidency last April, we have focused on turning our shared vision for an integrated approach to psychiatry into practical steps.

The cornerstone of this work is our EPA Action Plan 2025–2027 , “Leaving no one behind – a roadmap for better and personalized mental health care.” Guided by its priorities, six Task Forces are now fully operational, bringing together multidisciplinary expertise from the EPA and allied professions to deliver concrete outputs in education, clinical practice, research, and policy.

These Task Forces focus on areas of strategic importance, including brain health, artificial intelligence, new settings of care, personalized approaches to mental health, public mental health, whole person health and the protection of vulnerable people and patients’ rights. Please stay tuned for future achievements from these Task Forces.

Over the last eight months, we have strengthened the EPA’s engagement with the EU Institutions, the Council of Europe, and international organizations such as WHO and OECD, contributing to key discussions on human rights in mental healthcare, workforce challenges, digital mental health, and gender-related mental health issues. This has always been with the aim of ensuring that psychiatric expertise informs policy in a balanced and evidence-based manner.

Education and capacity-building have remained high on our agenda this year. In 2025, we launched the first editions of our European Board Exam in Psychiatry – a joint EPA–UEMS–EFPT initiative spearheaded by Past–President Prof. Geert Dom – and our first Leadership Academy.

In addition, we delivered a webinar series with over 700 participants from Europe and beyond, with a strong involvement of early career psychiatrists and colleagues from allied professions. We also expanded our scientific and policy footprint through the publication of four new guidance and policy papers, as well as the endorsement of important joint statements supporting global standards and investment in mental health.

These initiatives reflect our commitment to supporting today’s professionals while preparing the ground for future leadership. Looking ahead to 2026, this momentum will continue, with a second edition of the Board Exam and the Leadership Academy, new online educational offerings, and a new webinar series already in preparation.  

We are also working hard on the preparation of the 34th European Congress of Psychiatry, which will take place in Prague on 28 – 31 March 2026, under the theme “Mental Health: Improving Care and Expanding Horizons”.

It promises to be one of the best-attended European conferences in mental health next year, and we encourage you to secure your place and join us for a programme rich in scientific and educational content. In addition, we are organizing the first-ever EPA Regional Meeting, which will take place in Naples, my hometown, on 28 – 30 October 2026, under the theme “Psychiatry in Action”. This meeting will provide an opportunity to highlight the Action Plan in detail. I very much hope to welcome you both in Prague and in Naples.

I am deeply grateful to all who contribute their time, expertise, and dedication to the EPA. Without you, our work in 2025 would not have been possible. At this time of year, we have an opportunity to pause and reflect on the world we live in, one in which our shared values of humanity and democracy should continue to guide us each day.

I wish you and your loved ones a peaceful holiday season and restful days ahead, and I look forward to continuing our shared work in the coming year. Please feel free to contact me at any time to share your thoughts and ideas on how we can further improve mental health and mental health care in everyday practice.

Andrea Fiorillo – EPA President