A congress built on collaboration

The theme of this congress — Psychiatry without Borders: Building Collaborative Mental Health Systems Across the Pacific Rim — was chosen deliberately. The mental health challenges facing our region do not respect national boundaries. Migration, climate displacement, digital life, workforce shortages, and the long shadow of the pandemic are shared experiences across the Pacific Rim.

Over four days we will bring together clinicians, researchers, educators, policymakers, and people with lived experience to examine what actually works — and how models proven in one country can be adapted, not simply transplanted, into another.

Our scientific program has been designed to leave room for genuine conversation: alongside plenary lectures and symposia you will find workshops, case-based sessions, and early-career forums where dialogue matters more than the podium.

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is my great pleasure, as President of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists (PRCP), to warmly welcome you to the PRCP Congress 2027, to be held in Manila, the Philippines, from January 19 to 22, 2027.

Following our successful Congress in Tokyo in 2025, we now have another valuable opportunity to come together as a professional community across the Pacific Rim. Our region is characterized by remarkable cultural, social, and economic diversity. Simultaneously, we face many shared mental health challenges, including disparities in access to care, the impact of natural disasters, and the needs of aging populations. In this context, the Congress theme, “Building Collaborative Mental Health Systems across the Pacific Rim,” is both timely and highly relevant to the current situation.

The Manila Congress will provide an important forum to exchange knowledge and experience, strengthen regional and international collaboration, and explore innovative approaches to mental healthcare that respond to the diverse needs of our communities.

I sincerely thank our colleagues in the Philippines for their dedication and tremendous efforts in preparing the Congress.

I look forward to welcoming colleagues from across the Pacific Rim and beyond to Manila, Philippines. Together, let us strengthen our professional connections, learn from one another, and advance better mental health for all people in our region.

Welcome to the Philippines

Since its founding in 1973, the Philippine Psychiatric Association has worked to advance the science and practice of psychiatry and to expand access to mental health care across our archipelago of more than 7,000 islands. Hosting our 53rd Annual Convention jointly with the PRCP International Congress is a milestone for our membership.

The Philippines has, in recent years, moved decisively on mental health — from landmark legislation to the integration of psychiatric services into primary care. We look forward to sharing what we have learned, and to learning in turn from colleagues across the region.

Beyond the scientific sessions, we hope you will experience the Philippines itself: our food, our music, our history, and above all the warmth for which Filipinos are known. Mabuhay — welcome, and long may you live.