A Growing Community: Continuity and New Horizons for the IACAPAP Early Career Group
By: Dr. Charlene Gumbo1 and Dr. Andrés Román-Jarrín2, Early Career Group Coordinators
1Principal Consultant Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry, Chiromo Hospital Group, Kenya
2Adult & Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, Universidad Espíritu Santo (Ecuador), PhD Researcher, University of Seville (Spain)
Professional communities rarely emerge fully formed. More often, they begin with a small group of people who share a need for connection, guidance, belonging, and a sense that their voice matters within a larger international field. Four years ago, the IACAPAP Early Career Group (ECG) began in precisely this way through the initiative of Dr. Dina Mahmood and Dr. Dicle Büyüktaşkın, who envisioned a space where early career child and adolescent mental health professionals could find an international home within IACAPAP.
From Vision to Global Community
Since its inception, the ECG has grown into a truly global community. Today, it includes 52 members from 23 countries, representing diverse professions, training pathways, and cultural contexts. Over time, the group has fostered not only professional learning but also genuine collegial connection. This balance between development and human connection has become one of its defining features.
Ongoing engagement is reflected in the steady arrival of new applications. The mentorship programme has become a central pillar of our activities, providing structure while allowing relationships to develop naturally. Quarterly meetings offer opportunities to exchange perspectives across regions, discuss clinical and training experiences, and learn from one another’s healthcare systems. Together, these interactions have shaped the ECG into a collaborative international community rather than simply a programme.
Leadership Transition and Continuity
As we assume the role of coordinators, we do so with an awareness that we are joining something carefully built over time. Our intention is not to redefine what already works well, but to preserve its spirit while allowing it to continue evolving. We come from different geographic and professional contexts that reflect the diversity of IACAPAP.
Dr. Charlene Gumbo, a consultant psychiatrist based in Nairobi, Kenya, works across clinical care, academic teaching, and advocacy in child, adolescent, and youth mental health. Her work at Chiromo Hospital Group emphasizes multidisciplinary collaboration, mentorship, and capacity strengthening. Her research interests include suicide prevention, ADHD, depression, and anxiety among young people, and she is committed to empowering early-career professionals and developing future leaders.
Dr. Andrés Román-Jarrín, an adult and child & adolescent psychiatrist from Ecuador, has trained across multiple international systems, including Spain and the United States. His academic pathway combines clinical practice, research, and education, with a Master’s degree in Mental Health Research and ongoing research work focused on neurodevelopment and early life stress. Through international training programmes and fellowships within IACAPAP, he has developed a strong interest in collaboration, mentorship, and supporting the professional growth of clinicians and researchers early in their careers.
Through our previous involvement in ECG activities, mentorship initiatives, and international early career programmes, we have experienced how meaningful supportive professional networks can be during the early stages of one’s career. As coordinators, we therefore see our role not simply as organizational but relational, facilitating connection, encouraging dialogue, and creating spaces where colleagues can learn with and from one another across borders and professional backgrounds.
From this perspective, the ECG’s activities are practical expressions of a shared purpose. Each initiative aims to translate connection into growth and belonging into professional development. Strengthening and expanding structured opportunities for exchange is therefore a central focus of our work moving forward.
Figure 1: Dr. Charlene Gumbo
Figure 2: Dr. Andrés Román-Jarrín
Mentorship and Professional Development
The mentorship programme continues to grow. In the current cycle, it includes 19 participants from 12 countries and 10 generous mentors, illustrating the international community’s commitment to the next generation. Beyond individual mentorship relationships, we hope to encourage gradual scholarly engagement through collaborative discussions, shared educational activities, and participation in academic initiatives suited to each member’s context.
Expanding International Exchange and Collaboration
Looking ahead, we aim to expand opportunities for meaningful exchange. One initiative being launched is the IACAPAP ECG Early Career Exchange Program, designed to support professional development through structured international observerships, training experiences, or academic exchanges. The goal is both learning across systems of care and strengthening global collaboration within the IACAPAP network. Exposure to diverse clinical environments often broadens perspectives in ways that complement formal training, and we hope this programme will make such experiences accessible to more colleagues.
We also hope to deepen collaboration with other professional organizations. Child and adolescent mental health challenges increasingly transcend borders, and our professional networks should reflect that reality. Partnerships create opportunities for early career professionals to compare training pathways, share service development strategies, and engage in a broader global dialogue.
Looking Ahead: A Shared Professional Home
At its core, the ECG has always been about people rather than programmes. Structures provide stability, but relationships give them meaning. What began as a small space for connection has gradually become a shared professional home for colleagues across continents, training systems, and cultures. Our responsibility is to care for that space while allowing it to grow through the participation of its members.
We warmly invite trainees and early career colleagues to join us in this next phase: whether through mentorship, collaboration, or participation in activities. The future of the ECG will not be defined by its coordinators alone, but by the collective curiosity, generosity, and engagement of the community itself.
We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the IACAPAP Executive Committee for its continued support of the Early Career Group, and particularly to the Secretary General, Dr. Yewande Oshodi, for her constant encouragement and guidance. Her support has helped sustain the development of the ECG and reinforces its place within the broader IACAPAP community.
In many ways, the ECG reflects the idea with which it began: that professional growth in child and adolescent mental health is strengthened when it is shared. We look forward to continuing this work together and ensuring the ECG remains a welcoming space where early career professionals can grow, connect, and contribute.
