As we already informed our members by e-mail, MHE’s General Assembly and seminar will this year take place on 12 and 13 May 2006 at the conference centre Amazone in Brussels.
The seminar’s theme is “The European Commission Green Paper on Mental Health: Time for Action” and the draft programme includes:

• an introduction on the European Commission Green Paper and presentation of the comments received from MHE member organisations and other stakeholder;
• an introduction on the implications of the proposed new mental health legislation for England and Wales, and discussion on mental health legislation and its implications in European countries;
• an introduction on community living alternatives for institutionalisation and presentation of the newly establishes European Coalition for Community Living (ECCL).

The seminar will be held on Friday afternoon 12 May. All member organisations, European non governmental organisations in the mental health field and other interested people are invited.

MHE member organisations are encouraged to invite their national and local mental health policy makers to attend this seminar!
MHE’s General Assembly will be held on Saturday morning 13 May 2006.
MHE members will soon receive by postal mail an invitation and the agenda for the General Assembly and seminar.

Please contact us should you not have received this invitation by the end of next week.
The first meeting with the new Board will be held on Saturday afternoon 13 May 2006.

 

The second phase of the EU funded project “Implementation Mental Health Promotion Action” (IMHPA) started in 2003.

The partners meeting held in Vienna on 15-16 March 2006 was mainly dedicated to the preparation of the IMHPA conference to be held in Barcelona on 14-16 September 2006. Participants split up in 3 working groups, which allowed for intensive discussions on the design of the conference programme and suggestions for workshop themes.

Most of the partners took responsibility for the organisation of one or more workshops of what promises to be a very lively and interactive conference.
It was also proposed to organise a training track throughout the conference. This would help participants from the new Member States to get funding for attending the conference.

More information will follow soon!

Maurice Mittelmark presented a progress report on the online EMIP database “HPSource.net” (http://www.caint.com/HP-source.net/frontend/index.html). This database is an important source for capacity mapping. The database is open to all and is constantly improved.
Mary Van Dievel represented MHE at this meeting.

For more information: the IMHPA project website, http://www.imhpa.net/index.php?id=8&L=1

 

 

A second thematic meeting on “Social Inclusion and Fundamental Rights in Mental Health” was organised in Vienna (Austria) on 16-17 March 2006, as one of the events under the Austrian EU Presidency.
Purpose of the meeting was to give feedback on the Commission’s Green Paper on Mental Health, and more particularly on section 6.2 of the Green Paper “Promoting the social inclusion of mentally ill or disabled people and protecting their fundamental rights and dignity”.

There was a thematic block on “Social Inclusion in Mental Health” and one on “Fundamental Rights in Mental Health”.
During the discussion on aspects of social inclusion, the meeting focused on stigma and discrimination, including access to employment, and on the shift from institutions to community-based mental health services, including the desirable balance between them.

Mental Health Europe was invited to present some statements to open the discussion on social exclusion and mental health.

The following issues were presented by MHE:

• social exclusion is not a marginal problem in Europe, but a painful reality for millions of people;
• improvement of this situation will also very much depend on the progress that will be made in combating poverty and the taboos which surround mental illness;
• people with mental health problems are excluded at all imaginable levels: housing, leisure, social networking, civil rights…but most of all employment: from the group of disabled and otherwise deprived persons, they are the furthest away from the labour market;
• the importance of the National Action Plans on Social Inclusion and the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in influencing the National Action Plans should be stressed;
• importance of funding of NGOs: NGOs are representing civil society and therefore the most efficient vehicle for social inclusion;
• the first question is not how to work towards recovery, but how to promote mental health from the very beginning and how to maintain mental health; social inclusion is definitely the key to this.

In the plenary session on aspects of fundamental rights in mental health, a very much appreciated contribution was made by Gabor Gombos, representative of the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC) and the European Network of (ex)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP).
Conference facilitator Norman Sartorius presented the conclusions of the meeting.

Most of the contributions to this meeting are (or will be soon) available on the Green Paper website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_determinants/life_style/mental/green_paper/consultation_en.htm

 

 

This European conference, entitled “Creating a momentum for change”, was held in Budapest (Hungary), on 22-23 March 2006. It aimed at sharing knowledge, information and experiences on the determinants of effective implementation of mental health promotion across the European Union, and on how to make a difference through action on the ground.
Academics and representatives from health ministries and non governmental organisations discussed future priorities and effective policies for the promotion of mental health and well-being in Europe.

This conference was part of the project “Implementation of Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Policies and Strategies in EU Member States and Applicant Countries” (EMIP), supported by the European Union and initiated in August 2004. The project brings together 8 European Networks and 12 national partners committed to share models of good practices on implementing mental health promotion and prevention.

At the Budapest conference findings from national workshops on good practices in promotion and prevention in Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovenia were used to agree an implementation framework.

The German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (FIOSH, Dortmund), in cooperation with other European Networks active in mental health promotion, prevention and information has developed a multidisciplinary and inter sectoral strategic approach towards the implementation of national, regional and local activities in eligible states. National coalitions and partnerships in the partner countries have come together to focus on improving mental health and well-being and preventing mental health problems.

Mental Health Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) – Europe Network for Suicide Research and Prevention, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion in hospitals and health care, EuroHealthNet, STAKES and the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) are the European Networks which belong to the EMIP project.

John Henderson, MHE Policy Advisor, and Mary Van Dievel, Director, attended the conference.

More info to follow next month!
For more information: EMIP Project website, www.emip.org

 

 

A new provisional version of the EMIP (Implementation of Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Policies and Strategies in EU Member States and Applicant Countries) website is now available at: http://64.27.28.150/mentalhealth/test/homepage.html

 

 

On 2 March 2006 Mary Van Dievel, Director, and Sogol Noorani, Project Coordinator, participated in the WHO/EURO Empowerment Non Governmental Organisations Network meeting, which took place in Leuven (Belgium).

On 6 March 2006 Sogol Noorani and Fanny Muller, Trainee, attended the conference organised in Brussels by the Social Platform, in cooperation with EEB (European Environmental Bureau) end ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation), on the theme “Does the Lisbon process produce sustainable development?” (see p. 4-5)

On 7 March 2006 MHE staff and Josée Van Remoortel, Senior Policy Advisor, had a meeting with Ines Bulic, Coordinator of the European Coalition for Community Living (ECCL).

On 7-8 March 2006 Josée Van Remoortel represented MHE at the ECCL Steering Group meeting in Brussels (Belgium).

On 8 March 2006 Mary Van Dievel participated in the informal consultation meeting on the European Commission Green Paper on Mental Health, which was held in Brussels.
The same day Mari Fresu, Project Coordinator, took part in the EPHA (European Public Health Alliance) Policy Coordination meeting in Brussels.

On 10-11 March 2006 Claude Deutsch, MHE president, Malgorzata Kmita, MHE Board Member, Sogol Noorani, Pino Pini, MHE Board Member, Mary Van Dievel, Josée Van Remoortel and Colette Versporten, MHE Board Member, participated in the partners meeting of the EU Project “Good Practices to combat social exclusion of people with mental health problems” in Paris (France).

On 13 March 2006 Elisabeth Muschik, MHE Board Member, represented MHE at the Social Platform working group on fundamental rights and non-discrimination (FRAND working group) in Brussels.

On 15-16 March 2006 Mary Van Dievel attended the IMHPA Project (Implementing Mental Health Promotion Action) partners meeting in Vienna (Austria).

On 16 March 2006 Elisabeth Muschik and Mary Van Dievel had a meeting with Pro Mente Austria President Werner Schöny regarding the preparation of the MHE 2007 Conference.
On the same day Sogol Noorani and Fanny Muller attended the Bi-annual Meeting with the Commission, which was organised in Brussels by the Social Platform. (see p. 5)

On 16-17 March 2006 Mary Van Dievel and Elisabeth Muschik took part in the European Commission Second Thematic Consultation Meeting on the Green Paper on Mental Health, dedicated to social inclusion and fundamental rights, which was held in Vienna (Austria). (see p. 2)

On 22-23 March 2006 Mary Van Dievel and John Henderson, Senior Policy Advisor, represented MHE at the Baseline Conference of the EMIP (Implementation of Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Policies and Strategies in EU Member States and Applicant Countries) Project in Budapest (Hungary). (see p. 2-3)

On 24-25 March 2006 John Henderson and Mary Van Dievel participated in the EMIP consortium meeting in Budapest.