The mental health of the population is at the center of current social and political-healthcare debate. In a period characterized by growing uncertainty, social tensions, and global crises, it is more important than ever to invest in mental well-being and promote it in a targeted manner.
The Swiss Public Health Conference 2025 and the Swiss Mental Health Network Conference offer a platform at the intersection of public health and mental health. Experts from the worlds of practice, research, politics, and healthcare will discuss how to achieve a more holistic understanding of mental health and well-being.
This is a topic that brings together professionals from various disciplines to find shared answers and interpretations.
For the first time, the Congress will be held in Ticino, at the USI-SUPSI East Campus in Lugano-Viganello on September 10 and 11.
This complex topic raises numerous questions, touching on personal, interpersonal, and societal aspects. The Swiss Public Health Conference 2025 will address some of these questions:
How can we shift the focus from disorders and diseases to resources, prevention, and mental well-being? What role do social, economic, and ecological determinants play in mental health? How do global developments, from pandemics to climate change, affect mental resilience? What opportunities do new methodological approaches such as biobanks, cohort studies, or wearable devices for collecting biomarkers offer for understanding these phenomena?
The program, which will be attended by over 300 experts from across the country, will begin on Wednesday, September 10, with a plenary session, parallel sessions, workshops, poster presentations, and a first session of keynotes addressing the major challenges of mental health: from global challenges to those related to public policy, without neglecting the role of lived experience.
The second plenary session will explore the link between mental health, relational assets, and well-being, intertwining perspectives from economics, epidemiology, and social sciences. The first day will conclude with the award ceremony and a multilingual theater performance, curated by Club '74 of the Cantonal Socio-Psychiatric Organization, Concreta Teatro, and the SUPSI's Applied Psychology Competence Centre.
The morning of Thursday, September 11, will begin with a focus on the Swiss Brain Health Plan, followed by a conference on the social determinants of mental health, which will focus on young people, families, and vulnerable populations.
This will be followed by a round table discussion in which the new National Health Report will be presented and discussed with experts and representatives of federal and cantonal institutions. Finally, the closing plenary session will highlight the transition from a perspective focused on discomfort to one focused on well-being, thanks to contributions from sociology, social aesthetics, and artistic practices related to social and community theater, brought from international perspectives (France, Italy, and Austria).
Two days of intense programming for a conference that aims to intertwine scientific, political, cultural, and social perspectives and offer a journey that ranges from global reflection to concrete experiences, from academic rigor to the creativity of the arts, with an invitation to invest in mental health as a source of wealth for society as a whole.