Leaving Message From OPSYRIS Chair Terry

Sadly OPSYRIS chair Terry and the existing team at Glasgow, Bogna and Satu, who have served their roles so well will be passing on their positions. However, we can look forward to Nele and the Oxford team taking on their new roles. In his last regular newsletter for OPSYRIS Terry left the message below:

Message from OPSYRIS Chair

Hi everyone.

This is the last OPSYRIS Newsletter from the Glasgow team. Although its only a few weeks since our conference, we already have loads to share with you – see below.

On a personal note, I want to thank everyone who has helped build up the OPSYRIS membership and generally raise the profile of the psychological issues in stroke. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I think the OPSYRIS family can be proud of what we have achieved so far. You will see from the Stroke Association report that we are entering challenging times for stroke and for research. Let’s continue to look out for each other and if OPSYRIS can help in anyway let us know.

My final words have to be a massive thank you to our secretary and treasurer Bogna and Satu, without their input our meetings, newsletters, prizes would not have happened.

I am off to sit in a dark room and recover from the stress of running a live zoom meeting – Nele and team Oxford, its over to you!

Best wishes

Terry

We all wish Nele and the new team at Oxford well.

Glasgow 2018

On Friday 5th of October 2018, OPSYRIS hosted their anual UK meeting in the historic and scenic University of Glasgow.

The University of Glasgow hosted the 2018 OPSYRIS annual meeting

There were a wide range of topics presented. These included depression treatment, post stroke anxiety, using home based tools for assessment and setting up a specialist stroke psychology clinic.

Glasgow 2018 OPSYRIS meeting on research into stroke psychology.
Presentations, oral and poster, covered a wide range of research topics

Speakers came from every corner of the country including those from the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, East Anglia, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Nottingham and several from the host city.

One of several useful talks during the meeting

Among those presenting were keynote speaker Dr. Shirley Thomas from the University of Nottingham discussing the BEADS trial looking at behavioural activation for post-stroke depression. The rising star award this year was won by Dr. Yvonne Chun at the University of Edinburgh who has contributed valuable work on anxiety after stroke.

Rising Star Yvone Chun and keynote speaker Professor Shirley Thomas show awards
Rising Star Dr. Yvonne Chun and keynote speaker Professor Shirley Thomas show awards at Glasgow OPSYRIS conference for psychological research into stroke

A welcome addition was a “how to” section with experts giving advice on  getting published, gaining grant funding and combining research with a clinical post. To this end invited speaker Dr Alan Carson, Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry presented on getting published.

“How to…” sessions provided valuable information for researchers and practioners including getting funding, setting up a clinic and combining research and clinical work

The meeting was praised for creating a friendly and open environment for presenting work, asking questions, discussions and networking that participants found enjoyable, inspiring, informative and applicable to their practice and research.

OPSYRIS Glasgow post meeting
Participants of the OPSYRIS meet up in “The Friendly City” of Glasgow

However, it was the first OPSYRIS meeting arranged by the current team and much valuable feedback was taken post event and used for future events. There was much aniticipation for the next UK event at Oxford in 2019.

OPSYRIS Chair Dr. Terry Quinn closes the meeting in Glasgow 2018 as participants look forward to the following meeting in Oxford 2019

Thankfully many of the speakers shared their presentations online and can be found on the shared drive for OPSYRIS research Glasgow 2018. If you have problem accessing the contents please contact OPSYRIS.