The CPA is also developing several financial, educational, and professional benefit programs tailored to residents' needs. He will work under the primary supervision of Dr William G Honer, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, at UBC's Jack Bell Research Centre. The Canadian Psychiatric Association Education Fund launched an initiative this spring, to provide educational resources to countries in need. CPA will coordinate the shipment of psychiatric textbooks donated by its members to mental health organizations in countries such as the Ukraine, which have expressed a need for this type of resource. He says that the program will initially run for a six-month trial period, but he is hopeful that it will succeed and continue well into the future.
Donors incur only the cost of sending the books to CPA head office.
Once a large enough selection is collected, Dr Paul Grof, CJP Book Review Editor, will lead a team of reviewers who will sort through the texts and ensure that all materials are timely and relevant. Members are invited to start collecting their unwanted texts and to submit them, along with recommendations for possible donation sites, to CPA head office. As CPA President, my task will be facilitated by the hard work, dedication, and wisdom invested over the years by our Board of Directors, Executive, Councils, Standing Committees, and Working Groups. I have often commented that the CPA is a well-kept secret. The Association has worked very hard to become proactive rather than reactive, and to be recognized as the voice of psychiatry in Canada.