Six-day Group PM+ Training Workshop ends today

Rawalpindi
A six-day Group Problem Management Plus Training Workshop will conclude at the Institute of Psychiatry, WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research and Training, Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), today (Wednesday).
Institute of Psychiatry Head and Professor of Mental Health at Rawalpindi Medical College Dr. Fareed Minhas is organising the workshop with input from Professor Atif Rahman from the University of Liverpool, Dr. Mark Van Ommeren of WHO and Professor Richard Bryant from University of New South Wales.
The six-day workshop which started on January 28 involves two parallel trainings, firstly training includes an intervention team in Group PM+, and secondly training a research team in conducting research assessments. This is because when it is first delivered Group PM+ will be part of a research study investigating how the intervention is received by the local community and the impact it has upon participants’ lives, Professor Minhas informed 'The News' on Tuesday.
Developed by Dr. Katie Dawson from University of New South Wales, Australia, the Group Problem Management Plus (Group PM+) is a brief, low-intensity psychological intervention that aims to provide psychological support for groups of people in communities exposed to adversity, such as populations affected by humanitarian crises, he added.
He said the programme has been designed to help people with a range of reactions to adversity, including depression, anxiety and stress. This transdiagnostic approach is a strength of the intervention, moving away from diagnosis to focus upon improving individual functioning, explained Professor Minhas.
He added that the Group PM+ intervention trainees are from two institutions, the Institute of Psychiatry at Benazir Bhutto Hospital and the Human Development Research Foundation, Islamabad. This aspect of the training is led by trainer and intervention developer Dr Katie Dawson and supported by Miss Anna Chiumento from the University of Liverpool. The research team training is attended by research assistants affiliated with the Human Development Research Foundation, led by Dr Muhammad Naseem Khan from Khyber Medical University, Peshawar and supported by Dr Usman Hamdani from the Human Development Research Foundation, he said.
Talking of the programme, he said the intervention is simple, distilled to its core components to be deliverable by lay persons with no prior mental health training or experience. This approach -- known as “task-shifting” or “task-sharing” -- is a key feature of Group PM+ which is delivered by lay-persons with training in the intervention. Shifting the delivery of mental health programmes to train lay providers aims to integrate mental health services into primary healthcare, reaching a wider population in need, explained Professor Minhas.
He further explained that Group PM+ comprises 4 psychological techniques that have been proven effective at addressing a range of emotional difficulties.