Psych Congress Brought Together Patients and Clinicians for Better Treatment, Advocate Says

Clinicians at the 35th annual Psych Congress "[saw] the need" for practical psychopharmacology education that integrates the patient perspective, says Patient Advocate Vanessa Joy Walker. Walker is diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and shared both her personal journey and experiences she has had working with other patients as a coach and advocate.

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Vanessa Joy Walker is an author, speaker, patient advocate, consultant, and adversity coach who is an expert at navigating mental and physical health crises. Her lived experience includes; abandonment, adoption, cancer, infertility, early onset menopause, anxiety and depression conditions, and grief. As a featured speaker and contributor for outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The American Cancer Society, K-Love Radio, Motherly, Rise Together Podcast, and Psych Congress, Vanessa has shared her perspective on perseverance and joy with thousands of people worldwide. Vanessa is passionate about collaborating with people and organizations to help them achieve their highest missions. Currently, she is most proud of her partnerships with HMP Global’s Psych Congress as a member of the steering committee; Caelum Diagnostic Solutions as a strategic advisor; Ambassador, and content contributor for the UK publication Menopause Today; and her long term collaboration with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion educational firm Point Made Learning.

Read the Transcript:

Vanessa Joy Walker: Hi, my name is Vanessa Joy Walker, and I am so excited to be here today to talk with all of you about my lived experiences. I had the pleasure of being on the Steering Committee this past year, as a patient advocate, and it has been a really wonderful experience. I'm the founder of Living After Crisis, a nonprofit that is focused on women's wellness.

One of the things I really love about Psych Congress and the time that I've had the pleasure of spending at some of these conferences over the last year and a half is that Psych Congress is making an effort to really include the patient voice, the patient experience into their education. Because ultimately, we're all here for me, the patient. Right? And as many people like to say, "we're peers." I'm a peer because a lot of people who are clinicians are also patients.

When I think about really collaborating in a way and educating in a way that helps the patient, you got to have the patient there. It's wonderful to have all of the information about the new treatments that are out there, about how these treatments can be used on and off label. But ultimately, these treatments only work if you can get your patients to be interested in them. You need to get buy-in from them.

Psych Congress is one of those places that is integrating the patient in a way that helps clinicians see the need for communication and collaboration along with great education about what the treatment is. You have to know what the treatment is so that you can express it in a way that your patient understands, and then trusts you enough to perhaps try it.

That's the thing that I'm really enjoying about being a part of, not only the steering committee, but also the sessions and also just being around the clinicians and the providers that are here to see their excitement about learning how to communicate these life-changing treatment options to their patients.