pre congress
As an integral element of the Congress scientific program, a series of full-day and half-day pre-Congress workshops will be held on Sunday 16 May 2027 at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, New Zealand.
All workshops will provide valuable insights and discussions across a broad range of topics.
Registration for the workshops is now available via the Congress registration form.
Places are strictly limited and are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. We recommend booking early to ensure you don't miss out.
Please refer to the workshops below for their specific cost for attendance.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Michael Taran, Mathew Coleman, Steven Blefari, Nicholas Ceglinski
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
Electroconvulsive therapy is a safe, effective and evidence-based treatment that remains potentially lifesaving for severe mental illnesses. It is mandatory as part of psychiatric training to complete entrustment in ECT by gaining knowledge and skills in the consent, prescription and administration of ECT. However, certain rural and remote locations lack access to ECT and, considering the RANZCPs commitment to expanding rural training pathways, enabling access to experiences in ECT is crucial to ensuring progression through training in rural areas. Simulation training is a respected tool used in medical education that is widely adopted for algorithmic and procedural skills. This workshop aims to deliver simulation training in ECT to rural psychiatric trainees whose exposure to ECT may otherwise be limited.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Michael Daubney, Michael Gardner
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
This half-day workshop will consider the Psychotherapy Written case (PWC) from the perspective of an assessment to be marked. Specific content will include a practical explanation of the relevant college by-laws. The workshop will specifically cover aspects from the wise selection of patients, responses to specific scenarios encountered during the course of therapy and what an examiner is considering when assessing the case report.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Richard Harvey
Cost: NZ$30
Workshop details
This workshop is aimed at Fellows, new Fellows and trainees in the last stages of training. This workshop will provide participants with understanding and skills to conduct audit activities to meet the requirements of the RANZCP CPD program.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1630
Presenters: Ajay Vijayakrishnan, Suresh Yadav, Darshanie Gunaratne, Sachin Rai, Suman Sinha, Mark Lawrence
Cost: NZ$40
Workshop details
Organized on behalf of the Australia and New Zealand Psychiatrists with International Qualifications (ANZPIQ) Committee, this all-day pre-congress workshop supports Specialist International Medical Graduates (SIMGs) navigating Partial and Substantial Comparability pathways as they transition into psychiatric practice across Australia and New Zealand. Recognizing that successful integration extends far beyond credentialling, the workshop focuses on the overlapping professional, personal, relational, and cultural adaptations required in new clinical environments. Grounded in experiential learning and group dynamics, participants will engage in small-group reflective work, case scenario analyses, and panel discussions facilitated by experienced clinicians and recently Fellowed SIMGs. Key sessions address systemic healthcare literacy, ethical frameworks, cultural self-awareness, workplace dynamics, and reflection on the impacts of migration. Attendees can establish enduring peer-support networks to enhance resilience and gain practical tools to thrive within the Australian and New Zealand healthcare systems.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1630
Presenters: Korinne Northwood, Dan Siskind, Susanna Every-Palmer, Nicky Korman, Elizabeth Morton
Cost: Standard - NZ$655 | Registrar - NZ$340
Workshop details
This workshop will develop clinician confidence in identifying and managing treatment-refractory psychosis, with a particular focus on clozapine therapy. We welcome any clinician, trainee, or allied health professional who wishes to develop or expand their understanding of contemporary, evidence-based management of patients with complex psychotic illness.
We will offer guidance on commencing and optimising clozapine treatment, management to reduce clozapine-induced ADRs (including metabolic effects), assessing neutropenia and myocarditis risk associated with clozapine over an extended period, present clinical features and monitoring protocols for rechallenge following clozapine-induced myocarditis or agranulocytosis, as well as non-pharmacotherapy augmentation strategies.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Samantha Loi, Nicca Grant, Liam Ramsey
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
Cognition is central to how people think, function and recover from psychiatric illness, yet cognitive difficulties can be easily overlooked in routine clinical practice. This interactive workshop will explore cognition across common psychiatric disorders, how to recognise and assess cognitive difficulties, and what they mean for treatment and functional recovery. Using clinical cases, practical demonstrations and audience discussion, participants will develop a practical framework for understanding and managing cognitive symptoms in everyday psychiatric practice.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Justin Barry-Walsh
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
This workshop is aimed at those who have limited or no expertise in medico-legal report writing and who are interested in up-skilling in this area. During the day the pitfalls, complexities and ethics of court report writing will be addressed within a structured approach to report writing. At the end of the day the attendees should be able to commence medico-legal report writing under supervision.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Rajan Nishanth Jayarajan, Rebecca Wild
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
The proposed workshop, titled “When Caring Becomes Costly: A Balint Approach to Burnout Prevention” targets the pressing issue of burnout among psychiatry trainees and consultants. This was exemplified by the RANZCP Health of the Workforce Survey. Burnout, driven by the emotional demands of psychiatric practice, significantly impacts professionals' well-being and the quality of patient care.
This workshop introduces Balint groups as a proven method to prevent and reduce burnout. Through guided reflective practice, participants will explore their emotional responses to patient interactions, gain deeper insights into the doctor-patient relationship, and develop coping strategies to manage work-related stress.
Designed for a maximum of 30 participants, the workshop will be highly interactive, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for open discussion. Facilitated by experienced Balint group leaders, the session will provide a space for psychiatry professionals to share their experiences, reflect on their challenges, and learn from one another.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have a clear understanding of how Balint groups can enhance their emotional resilience and professional satisfaction. The workshop aligns with the broader goals of the RANZCP Congress 2027 by addressing the critical need for effective burnout prevention strategies within the psychiatric community.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Shannon Calvert, Amy Woods
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
Providing care for people with longstanding eating disorders can involve significant clinical and ethical complexity, particularly when established treatment approaches no longer align with a person’s needs, priorities or experiences. Questions of safety, autonomy, treatment burden, quality of life and therapeutic responsibility can create uncertainty for individuals, whānau and treating teams.
This interactive workshop introduces the National Eating Disorders Collaboration’s Holding Hope Guide as a practical framework for navigating these complexities while sustaining meaningful therapeutic engagement and openness to recovery, resilience and growth.
Through facilitated teaching, composite clinical scenarios and structured reflection, participants will explore complex situations from the perspectives of the individual, whānau, psychiatrist and multidisciplinary team. They will apply Holding Hope tools to ethical decision-making, shared care planning and competing risks and values, while considering how assumptions, power, culture and different forms of knowledge can shape clinical decisions.
The workshop is designed for psychiatrists, psychiatry trainees and mental health professionals seeking person-centred approaches to providing ethical and collaborative care amid clinical uncertainty.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Alby Elias, Vinay Lakra, Naveen Thomas, Finuala Bourke, Karuppiah Jagadheesan, Amanda Baric
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
A hand-on workshop that facilitates continued learning of the new developments in the evolving landscape of electroconvulsive therapy. At the end of the workshop participants are expected to become proficient in prescribing and administering ECT with up-to-date knowledge and practical skills.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Denise Riordan
Cost: NZ$30
Workshop details
This workshop provides training for psychiatrists involved in the Substantial Comparability and Affiliates pathway for Specialist International Medical Graduates. It outlines placement requirements, assessor and supervisor responsibilities, and the use of workplace-based assessment tools, with a focus on Case based Discussion. Through interactive calibration exercises, participants will develop confidence and consistency in applying assessment standards.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Gordon Donnir, Andrew Teodorczuk, Jeffrey Bergman, Thomas Skerlj, Ken Donald
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
How do we teach psychiatrists not simply what to think, but how to think clinically?
Clinical reasoning is central to psychiatric practice, yet much of its teaching remains implicit. This highly interactive workshop uses authentic cases and progressive disclosure to make psychiatric reasoning visible—from phenomenology and identifying missing information through competing hypotheses, cognitive biases, formulation, uncertainty and management decisions.
Participants will practise strategies for eliciting, teaching and reflecting upon reasoning and redesign familiar educational encounters to make reasoning observable and developable. Against the backdrop of the renewed RANZCP Fellowship Program, the workshop explores how explicit clinical reasoning can support curriculum coherence, longitudinal capability development, programmatic assessment and educational scholarship.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Nayla Khoury
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
This experiential workshop will demonstrate how a form of trauma sensitive yoga, trauma adapted yoga, can be used in group settings for adolescents and youth with psychiatric conditions or with healthcare staff to improve wellbeing through nervous system regulation. Trauma adapted yoga is a culturally safe practice utilized in many settings and being studied as adjunctive treatment for adolescents and youth in psychiatric care. The workshop utilizes experiential techniques, reviews the evidence base and discusses the rationale for different yoga postures, guidance and practices that can be utilized clinically. Lastly, participants will have an opportunity to practice guiding trauma adapted yoga poses and techniques in a group setting to be able to take away skills for clinical use.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Lyn Chiem, Dominika Baetens
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
This interactive 3.5-hour workshop introduces participants to the concept of organisation in the mind and explores how internal psychological representations shape experiences of leadership, authority, teams and organisational change. Through experiential activities, reflective exercises and facilitated discussion, participants will examine unconscious organisational dynamics and develop a systems-informed understanding of workplace behaviour. The workshop is ideal for psychiatry trainees and consultant psychiatrists seeking deeper insight into organisational life and their role within complex healthcare systems.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Susannah Bond, Andrew Teodorczuk, Sam Dipnall, Tofa Ramanlal
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
A half-day, practically oriented workshop offering psychiatrists and psychiatric leaders contemporary approaches to both conceptualisation and practical approaches for doctor wellbeing reform. Headline domains are explored through literature and worked examples, mapped to the Every Doctor Every Setting (EDES) framework, equipping participants with transferable tools for leading primary prevention within their own training and clinical environments, and considering the place for secondary and tertiary support.
Date: Sunday 16 May 2027
Time: 0930-1230
Presenters: Mithira Nithianandan, Sathya Rao
Cost: Standard - NZ$510 | Registrar - NZ$250
Workshop details
This workshop aims to upskill psychiatrists and psychiatry registrars in working effectively with complexity and assessing and managing risk in personality disorder and complex trauma. This interactive workshop will introduce a practical framework for understanding and responding to complexity and risk. Participants will also explore the application of psychotherapeutic and treatment principles. Video examples and case-based discussion will provide opportunities to observe and apply these principles in complex clinical scenarios.
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the First Nations and the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands and waters now known as Australia, and Māori as tangata whenua in Aotearoa, also known as New Zealand. We recognise those with lived and living experience of a mental health condition, including community members and all RANZCP members. We affirm their ongoing contribution to the improvement of mental healthcare for all people.