July-August 2007 - News from the MHE Secretariat

MHE Conference 2008, 7-9 August 2008, Aalborg (Denmark)

MHE Conference 2008 is inspired by the declaration of the European Commission that 2008 will be the Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

The focus of the conference will be on "Diversity in Mental Health and Wellbeing - An Opportunity for intercultural Dialogue". Cultural diversity is not limited to the ethnic dimension alone. It has a philosophical dimension (mental health and wellbeing) and is also related to other areas, for example the cultural dimension of the various health systems, the cultural differences that exist in the practice of health professionals and in the provision of care and treatment.

Lectures, discussions and workshop will give an opportunity for sharing information, ideas and deepening knowledge and an opportunity for exchange of best practices. Participants coming from all European countries will contribute with their own experience on diversities within different dimensions of cultures.

The conference will be organised together with SIND - Danish association for Mental Health, in joint venture with SIND - North Denmark, the psychiatric sector of the North Denmark Region and the Community-Psychiatry of Aalborg.

You can contribute by sending us ideas for workshop and/or lectures you find interesting.

For further information and to sign up for the MHE2008 Newsletter, please visit: www.mhe-aalborg.dk, or contact the MHE Secretariat, Tel +32 2 280 04 68, E-mail info@mhe-sme.org

MHE joins the NGO Action Group on the EU Child Rights Strategy as observer

In view of the establishment of a new thematic MHE Committee dedicated to the mental health of children and adolescents, Mental Health Europe has joined the NGO Action Group on the EU Child Rights Strategy as observer. When the MHE Committee mental health and children will be set up, MHE envisages applying for the full Action Group's membership in order to take actively part in its activities.

The Action Group is an informal grouping of NGOs who have committed to working together on the follow up and implementation of the European Commission Communication - Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child (CR Communication) and for the purpose of information sharing. The UN (represented by UNICEF) participates actively as an associate member of the group. Key members of the group are: International Federation Terre Des Hommes, World Vision, The European Foundation for Street Children Worldwide, Save the Children, EURONET, Eurochild, Plan International and SOS-Kiderdorf International.

The NGO Action Group calls for the European Union to ensure that children's rights are mainstreamed, child participation becomes a central element of the EU's work and the EU devotes sufficient human and financial resources towards the issue.

In line with this view, MHE makes a plea for a EU Child Rights Strategy that protect the mental well-being of children. MHE believes that providing a legal framework and additional support for vulnerable children is crucial to prevent problems from persisting into adulthood. Vulnerable children, whose psycho-social development may be blocked or damaged, include children who are ill, those with physical or mental disabilities, sensory impairment, those who have been neglected, sexually, physically or emotionally abused, children who have witnessed or experienced extreme trauma and children who are refugees. Such children have the right to obtain specific help, treatment or assistance, including social support, psychotherapeutic interventions and counselling (involving the children themselves, their parents and/or families).

For more information: contact person, Mari Fresu, MHE Project Coordinator, Tel +32 2 280 04 68, E-Mail mari.fresu@mhe-sme.org

4th MHEEN II meeting, Ljubljana (Slovenia), 28-30 June 2007

The fourth meeting of the Mental Health Economics European Network - phase II (MHEENII) successfully took place in Ljubljana (Slovenia) from Thursday 28 to Saturday 30 June 2007. The meeting was organised by the London School of Economics (project leader) with the technical coordination of Mental Health Europe and in collaboration with the Institute of Public Health of Ljubljana, Slovenian MHEENII member.

On the first day of the meeting, the project leaders (LSE) gave an overview of economic evaluations undertaken to date in many countries and some future and ongoing studies were presented. It was stressed that findings show that economic evaluation of promotion and prevention interventions are a growing health policy issue but have still only minor role in some countries, while they have not a significant policy concern in some other countries. Barriers to greater use of economic evaluation of existing mental health promotion programmes are one of the main concerns in all countries.

The second meeting's day focused on the MHEEN questionnaires. The content of the MHEEN questionnaire on mental health financing was discussed by the participants in working groups. The members were asked to discuss the feasibility and appropriateness of the questionnaire for each country. An overview of the information collected so far in the area of balance of care was offered to the floor. The paper on "Balance of Care of Mental Health Services in Europe" was presented and the key results, discussion topics and conclusions were highlighted. Participants were asked to provide a general feedback on the paper.

A discussion took place on main areas of analysis of the MHEEN questionnaire on mental health and employment. An overview was provided on the evidence base on the cost effectiveness of workplace health promotion in a European context and of actions in Europe to help individuals who want to work have the opportunity to obtain or return to open employment.

Finally, on the last day the project leaders updated the participants on the administrative issues and next steps of the network, including the dissemination plan and the organisation of the final event of the project.

The PowerPoint presentations of the meeting are available online in the "members only" section of the MHEEN II website at http://www.mheen.org/MEMBERSonly.htm.

For further information please write to Mari Fresu, project coordinator of the MHEEN II, at mari.fresu@mhe-sme.org

Mental Health Europe participates in the first Global Advocacy Leadership Forum

On 2-4 July Mental Health Europe met in Leuven (Belgium) with four other international mental health organisations whose members represent more than 100 countries for the first Global Mental Health Advocacy Leadership Forum. The participating organisations were the European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness (EUFAMI), the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks (GAMIAN-Europe), the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) and the World Fellowship for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders (WFSAD).

Leadership of the participating organisations share the belief that this is an important time in the evolution of mental health treatment and services, public mental health policy, promotion, prevention and public awareness worldwide. The primary goal for organising and convening the Forum was to provide a significant opportunity for organisations to:

• build relationships and mutual understanding;
• explore a range of cross-cutting issues that can be effectively addressed through collaboration and cooperation;
• establish a basic plan and procedure for sharing of information among the organisations and their members/constituencies;
• create opportunities to interact formally and informally to enhance their capacity to be heard on matters of importance to the global mental health community.

These leading mental health NGOs recognise the importance of developing a more united global voice to promote effective action to address these and other important issues and to advance mental health as a global health priority.

The participants proposed a five-point plan of action through which to develop and sustain their collaborative efforts:

Malgorzata Kmita, President, and Mary Van Dievel, Director, represented MHE at this meeting.

MHE contributes to the Social Platform Annual Theme

On 13 July 2007, MHE sent a one page contribution to the Social Platform's Annual Theme: "Demographic and Social Changes". Answering to questions on the key trends of demographic and social change in the European society, the potential collective responses and the role of civil society and social NGOs, MHE highlighted two main arguments for the message of social NGOs to the debate on demographic and social change:

1. There are basic human needs that do not change, irrespective of economic and social changes: everybody has a need for belonging, love and affection (people need to feel associated with others) and for acceptance, recognition and power (people need to feel needed). When these basic needs are not met the consequences can be detrimental: poverty and social exclusion, illness, physical and mental disorders, addictive behaviours, violence, suicide, etc.

2. What is needed: strengthening bottom-up approaches to motivate and mobilise individuals and civil society in all EU Member States. This can be achieved through developing, enhancing and sustaining the dissemination of information, exchange, empowerment and cooperation.

On 17 August a first version of the draft common position based on the contributions from members was produced by the Platform's Secretariat. After discussion and likely amendments, the adoption of the final common position should take place on 22 October within the Social Platform Steering Committee.

For more information: the Social Platform Secretariat, Tel +32 2 508 16 36, E-mail platform@socialplatform.org, or visit the Platform website, www.Socialplatform.org

MHE representation at various meetings

On 2-4 July, Malgorzata Kmita, President, and Mary Van Dievel, Director, met with representatives of the European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness (EUFAMI), the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks (GAMIAN-Europe), the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) and the World Fellowship for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders (WFSAD) in Leuven (Belgium).

On 5 July, Mélanie Mazier, trainee, attended a Seminar on Equal Employment Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in the European institutions - State of Play and Way Forward, which was organised in the European Parliament in Brussels by the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Unit of the European Commission.

On 11 July, Mari Fresu, Project Coordinator, attended the meeting of the Services of General Interest Working Group at the Social Platform offices in Brussels.

On 16 July, the MHE staff had an informal meeting with Pierre Baussand and Richard Poláček, Policy Officers at the Social Platform.

On 17 July, Fanny Muller, Information Officer, attended a meeting of the LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties, Justice and Internal Affairs) in the European Parliament in Brussels.

On 18 July, Mari Fresu participated in the EPHA Policy Coordination meeting in Brussels.

On 27 August, Fanny Muller took part in the Social Platform FRAND Working Group meeting in Brussels.