SoCΨ: Preserving psychiatry’s evidence-based integrity, biopsychosocial scope, and scientific relevance
The Society of Canadian Psychiatry, SoCΨ, emerged from the combination of need and opportunity. The opportunity comes from increasing awareness of, and unprecedented interest in, the importance of mental health in health and public policy; the need comes from the lack of evidence-based national guidance informing emerging mental health policies.
SoCΨ is being formally launched in 2024/25 with a small (but mighty!) Board of Director psychiatrists across the country. Our goal is to engage colleagues meaningfully on the most pressing national mental health issues, honouring what it means to be a professional medical association by respecting member input, responsibly contributing expert advice to policy-makers, and ensuring consultations are informed by evidence and deliberation rather than just ideology.
SoCΨ realizes it cannot “sit on the sidelines” even, or especially, when Canada is facing challenges on complex and controversial issues. At its inception, the first issue SoCΨ is contributing policy guidance on is the complex issue of potential expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying for mental illness.