Hotel room view, Barcelona
I’m writing from a café in Barcelona, Spain, having spent the last week at the University of Barcelona Faculty of Law, attending and participating in the International Congress on Law and Mental Health. The Congress is a biennial conference organized by the International Academy of Law and Mental Health, held in different major cities. It attracts a global assemblage of scholars, practitioners, judges, and students, drawn heavily from fields such as law, psychology, psychiatry, and social work.
I’ll be flying back to Boston tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I’m sharing my three big takeaway reflections from this little sojourn.
First, among this historically literate group of conference goers, there was a strong sense that we are living in dangerous times. Although the Congress’s focus is not on large-scale politics and statecraft, its big-picture frame envelops the rule of law, human rights, individual and societal well-being, and psychological trauma. Attendees from around the world shared deep concerns about the rise of authoritarian leaders, which frequently infused conversations during session breaks and over meals.
The U.S. presidential campaign loomed large. Indeed, a Canadian friend and fellow conference participant was the first to text me that President Biden had withdrawn as the presumptive Democratic nominee. People are paying attention to what happens, deeply concerned about the critical damage that a Trump presidency would do to democracy, freedom, and the environment on a global scale.
Second, the conference itself served as an important reminder that for academics and others whose work is enriched by sharing our latest research and analyses, in-person gatherings still matter. The people drawn to this conference are doing compelling work in the broad intersections of law, public policy, mental health, and psychology. (For more on that, go here to read a short piece I posted to my professional blog.) While the pandemic, especially, has taught us that presentations can be delivered effectively via Zoom, in-person conferences and workshops create better space for informal conversations that stoke ideas, research, and practice and can lead to future collaborations.
And if the gathering is a good one, meaningful human connections emerge. Through this conference, I have met, and become friends with, so many remarkable individuals.
Finally, on a more personal level, I see changes in how I’m now regarding travel, especially the long-distance variety. This conference marks my first overseas journey since the 2019 International Congress held in Rome. Although the Congress is one of my favorite events, I opted not to attend the 2022 offering in Lyon, France, still feeling uncertain about the COVID situation. But I told myself that the Barcelona conference was the time to get back into global travel mode.
When I was doing my price comparisons, I found that I could save a bit of money by paying for another hotel night in Barcelona to avoid a more expensive return plane ticket. The extra time to enjoy Barcelona would be a bonus. But with the conference having concluded two days ago, and – more importantly — the special people with whom I spent so much time having departed, suddenly this worldly, historic, beautiful city has felt rather empty to me. Indeed, as an unintended experiment, my briefly extended stay has confirmed that (1) my sense of wanderlust diminished during the heart of the pandemic; (2) now when I travel, it’s much more about the who and the why, and less about the where.
And so, instead of spending my last sunny afternoon here doing more sightseeing, I’m hanging out in this café, with my thoughts veering back across the ocean. I’m catching up on emails, looking ahead at my schedule for the coming week, and — at least in my head — morphing back into regular life.