From Transcultural Psychiatry to Global Mental Health: The Development of a Global Mental Health Program at the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia

This chapter traces the development of a global mental health program within the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. Tracing its origins from an effort to teach transcultural psychiatry through the development of a cultural competence program, it details efforts and lessons learned at each stage. Early career psychiatrists who attended the program have contributed their experience. This program is unique in that it has developed without endowments or NIMH grants and in a moderate size university town rather than the large coastal cities where most other programs have developed. The chapter provides actionable, transferrable curriculum guidance for one program’s pathway to developing a sustainable global mental health program. It demonstrates that with a dedicated faculty member, support from the department and medical school, multidirectional collaboration with appropriate sites, both international and in-country, that psychiatry residents can be trained to advance clinical, educational, and research endeavors in various global settings.