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17 September 2021: ACBTA General Meeting 2021

The ACBTA had its latest General Meeting on 17 September 2021 where a new constitution was adopted. The main changes to the ACBTA Constitution include:

  1. Name change from Asian Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Association to Asian Cognitive Behavioral Therapies Association, to be aligned with the World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (WCCBT).
  2. General Meeting frequency change from every conference year to annually.
  3. Membership now has 2 categories: Full Membership and Affiliate Membership (see Membership page for more information)
  4. Membership renewal change from every conference year to annually.
  5. Executive Committee now consists of:
    • President
    • President-Elect
    • Past President
    • Secretary
    • Treasurer
    • Director of Training and Development
    • Director of Research and Innovation
ACBTA General Meeting on Friday 17 September 2021.
Top Row (L-R): Freedom Leung (Board Member – Hong Kong, Alvin Ng (Secretary, Board Member – Malaysia), Tian Po Oei (Founder President, Board Member – Australia), Akiko Nakagawa (Board Member – Japan).
Middle Row (L-R): Jung-Hye Kwon (Board Member – South Korea), Shin-Ichi Ishikawa (Director – Training & Development, Board Member – Japan), Firdaus Mukhtar (President, Board Member – Malaysia), Nimisha Kumar (President-Elect, Board Member – India)
Bottom Row (L-R): Muhammad Irfan (Director – Research & Innovation, Board Member – Pakistan), Zhanjiang Li (Board Member – Nanjing) & Mohamed Shahanur Hossain (Board Member – Bangladesh).
5-7 July 2021: 7th Asian Cognitive Behavior Therapy Conference
Main speakers of the 7th Asian CBT Conference: Dr Keith Dobson, Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis, Dr Judith S. Beck, Dr Allen R. Miller, Dr Freedom Leung and Dr Lata McGinn

ACBTA had its largest event ever, with the 7th Asian Cognitive Behavior Therapy Conference on 5 to 7 July 2021, virtually hosted by Sunway University, Malaysia, co-organized by the Malaysian Society of Clinical Psychology and ACBTA. It received 7,472 registered participants from 80 countries! Majority of the participants were tertiary students (31.3%), followed by counsellors (21.4%), psychologists (17%) and psychiatrists (9.2%), with the remainder 21.1% consisting other professionals such nurses, occupational therapists, dieticians, audiologists, teachers and interested members of the public.

Registration was free of charge to provide better access for delegates from Asian countries to such international event. It was recognized that the COVID-10 pandemic has disadvantaged many countries and so the organizing committee decided to provide free access to this conference as a goodwill gesture to the delegates.

There were 38 invited speakers including two special sessions – one on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) by Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis, and the other one on developments in CBT training by Dr Judith Beck and Dr Allen Miller from Beck Institute. The three-day conference saw 23 oral presentations and 109 posters presented. The proceedings ended with a special message from the International Patron of World Mental Health Day 2020, HRH Princess Iman Afzan Al-Sultan Abdullah of Malaysia, presentations from ACBTA, and the conferment of four conference awards.

We thank all speakers and participants for being part of our conference and making it a successful one. Our gratitude also goes out to our sponsors for the conference awards – Naluri and the Malaysian Society of Clinical Psychology, as well as to Sunway University for providing the virtual platform for free! We also congratulate the award winners – see: Conference Awards

The Conference Program and Abstract Book can be found here: Publications | MSCP

19 January 2021: ACBTA Board Meeting

The ACBTA had its Board Meeting following from the last one in 2019. This meeting was convened to formalize the appointment of the 2021-2024 Executive Committee consisting of:

  • President: Professor Dr Firdaus Mukhtar (Malaysia)
  • President-Elect: Associate Professor Dr Nimisha Kumar (India)
  • Past President: Professor Dr Ning Zhang (Nanjing)
  • Secretary: Professor Alvin Lai Oon Ng (Malaysia)
  • Treasurer: Professor Young-Hee Choi (South Korea)
  • Director – Training and Development: Professor Shin-Ichi Ishikawa (Japan)
  • Director – Research and Innovation: Professor Muhammad Irfan (Pakistan)
ACBTA Board Meeting on 19 January 2021. This meeting established the current 2021-2024 Executive Committee and to set the direction towards revamping ACBTA towards being a relevant Asian organization for CBT.

Archives (2020 and earlier)

ACBTA Boardmembers at the 9th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies 2019, Berlin, Germany. (L-R): Nimisha Kumar, Chun Wang, Jenny Ko, Yuji Sakano, Shin-Ichi Ishikawa, Young-Hee Choi, Firdaus Mukhtar, Ning Zhang, Shahanur Hossain, Zhanjiang Li and Alvin Ng
ACBTA Board Members, Shin-Ichi Ishikawa, Alvin Ng and Mohamed Shahanur Hossain at the 9th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, Berlin, Germany in 2019.
Board members during the ACBTA Annual General Meeting at the 2018 World Congress of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Melbourne, Australia. (L-R): Akiko Nakayama, Alvin Ng, Jenny Ko, Ning Zhang, Tian Po Oei, Jung-Hye Kwon, Young-Hee Choi, Shin-Ichi Ishikawa, Firdaus Mukhtar, Zhanjiang Li.
Board Members, Zhangjiang Li and Alvin Ng with friends at the 8th Word Congress of Behaviour and Cognitive Therapies (WCBCT), Melbourne, Australia in 2016.
Board members at the 5th Asian Cognitive Behavior Therapy Conference, Nanjing, 2015
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