The Cairns Institute is a major partner in organizing the Creating Futures online Conference on 21 & 22 July. This virtual conference will be bringing together the Creating Futures community, which has been growing, across the region since the first Creating Futures conference in 2003. Since that modest beginning, meetings have been held in Cairns, Port Moresby and Suva. Creating Futures has evolved from a conference to a movement that seeks to harness experience, expertise, innovation and goodwill to build the capacities necessary to improve the mental health status of disadvantaged populations in the Pacific. It exists as an independent, task-focused collaboration of individuals and institutions built on a foundation of relationships of trust across time, terrain, sectors and special interests. TCI's Jennifer McHugh sits on the Steering Committee and is working with partner organisations; including Sangath, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, St Vincents Hospital, the University of Queensland, Fiji National University, the University of Papua New Guinea, the Oceania Society for Mental Health Professionals, the South Pacific Community and the WHO to deliver the conference.

The conference is free to attend and anyone with an interest in improving mental health is welcome to attend.

To find out more please visit the conference website www.creatingfutures.org.au