Summary

A topic of crucial importance at this time, and one that The BEARR Trust’s grants have been addressing this year, we are delighted to announce that our online Autumn Lecture this year will be given by BEARR patron, human rights activist and historian Professor Robert van Voren.

The online event will take place on Wednesday 13 September at 6.30pm UK time via Zoom and we hope that people all over the world will be able to join us and take part in what should be a lively Q&A discussion following Professor van Voren's talk.

Instructions on how to join the online talk will be included in the confirmation email sent to the email address you registered with via Eventbrite. Please make sure to check your spam or junk folder for your confirmation email. You will also receive a reminder email in the days leading up to the event.

Registration, Ticketing and Donations

As usual, our Autumn Lecture is free to attend and welcome to all, however BEARR's webinars, talks and lectures are the organisation's main fundraising events and we are therefore asking guests for a suggested donation of £10 per person, £5 for full-time students and jobseekers, or more if you are able.

All proceeds from the event will be shared equally between The BEARR Trust's Emergency Appeal for Ukraine and Moldova and the Human Rights in Mental Health-FGIP foundation

Event Registration

In order to attend the event, you must register for either a free ticket or a donation ticket via this Eventbrite page. For those who are UK taxpayers and are eligible to Gift Aid their donation, we kindly ask that you register for a free ticket via Eventbrite and make your donation directly to our CAF Donate site here: https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/24268

Donations

To donate via Eventbrite, please choose the "Donation Ticket" option during registration and enter the amount you would like to donate. You do not need to buy a separate "Free Ticket" if you donate, although if your donation would be eligible for Gift Aid, please register for a free ticket on Eventbrite and follow the instructions above by donating directly to our CAF Donate site above.

Please ensure you either buy one donation ticket or one free ticket per person to register for the event.

About the Speaker

Robert van Voren is Chief Executive of the international foundation Human Rights in Mental Health-FGIP foundation, an international foundation for mental health reform. He is also Executive Director of the Andrei Sakharov Research Center for Democratic Development, and Professor at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, and at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is also a Patron of The BEARR Trust.

In the 1980s Professor van Voren coordinated international campaigns against the political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union and became head of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry in 1986. The organisation successfully campaigned to have the Soviet Union removed from the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) in 1983 and to have conditions placed on its return to the WPA in 1989.

Starting in 1990-1991, Robert van Voren and his foundation developed an extensive programme to support mental health reformers in the former USSR to humanise mental health care. The organisation gradually developed into what is now the Federation Global Initiative on Psychiatry, with member organisations in Bulgaria, Georgia, Lithuania, Sri Lanka, The Netherlands and the United States. It has implemented many hundreds of projects in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas and is particularly active in countries such as Ukraine, where it provides a wide range of support efforts to counter the psychological consequences of war.

Robert van Voren was elected Honorary Fellow of the British Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1997, became an Honorary Member of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association in 2004 and was knighted by Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands in 2005 for his work as a human rights activist. In 2003 he was granted Lithuanian citizenship in recognition of his contribution to the development of an independent Lithuania.

About The BEARR Trust

The BEARR Trust is a UK-based, English-registered charity that has been supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus for over 30 years. BEARR launched its Emergency Ukraine Appeal on 27 February to support its partners: local, grassroots NGOs and civil society organisations who are providing urgent humanitarian aid to vulnerable people in Ukraine or who are now refugees in Moldova. Find out more about our work in Ukraine and Moldova over on our website bearr.org.

War in Ukraine and mental health: the long-term consequences