The next International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) congress will be held in Sydney in 2023! We hope to attract 400-500 attendees and presenters from all over the world – mainly psychiatrists and researchers.

What is your preferred format for ‘Lived Experience’* events?

For several years this biannual event has included a ‘Family Day’ for people with lived experience and their family/friends/supporters.

The ISSPD President elect has a vision to embed lived experience (‘consumer’ and ‘carer’) participation at all levels of the Society and is seeking the opinions of Australian BPD Foundation members on how the Family/Lived Experience day could look like for the congress

In recognition of the different needs and life experiences of delegates with Lived Experience we would also be interested in which format you consider to be best suited for the Lived Experience events:

1.            Separate event - different day/different venue (clinicians may attend if they choose)

2.            Concurrent event – same days and venue (maybe allocating a separate area of the conference venue and offering separate presentations/workshops for people with lived experience throughout the conference)

3.            Same event - fully integrated into the main event, offering a mix of lived experience presentations in the main auditorium with separate breakout rooms throughout the congress.

* The term 'Lived Experience' refers to people with lived experience of BPD and their family/carers/supporters