MHE is very sad to announce that former MHE Board member Knud Jensen, from Denmark, recently passed away.
Our sincere condolences go out to Knud's family, relatives and friends.
Below is our tribute to Knud Jensen.
Remembering Knud Jensen, by Josée Van Remoortel, MHE Senior Policy Officer
At the beginning of March Knud Jensen passed away. Many of you will remember Knud as a quiet and friendly Danish psychiatrist, fighting for a place for users, for human rights, for partnership and social justice.
He became active on the European scene after the first successful European Congress on "Alternatives to Mental Hospitals" organised by Edith Morgan and myself in Gent (Belgium) in 1980. A small group of enthusiastic volunteers set up the European Regional Council of the World Federation for Mental Health. Knud was one of them and became its second President in 1985.
Knud continued to serve the Board until 2004 and was during many years the editor of our Newsletter. He also chaired the MHE (successor of the European Regional Council of the WFMH) Committee on Human Rights
Knud Jensen was also very active in Denmark. He worked in the university psychiatric hospital of Odense and developed many innovative projects, such as alternatives to mental hospitals.
In addition, Knud was also a source of inspiration for many of his younger colleagues and he set up, together with Brian Glanville (Ireland) and Pino Pini (Italy), a "User evaluation Questionnaire". This was an innovative European project giving users a voice in the evaluation of the mental health services.
As a human rights activist Knud organised in 1985 in Copenhagen (Denmark) a European Conference on "Commitment and civil rights of the mentally ill". This challenging conference promoted a change in the mental health legislation in order to ensure that people with mental health problems are granted the same rights as other citizens.
Together with A.J. Vrijlandt (Netherlands) and J. Connolly (Ireland) he set up a European network for the prevention of seclusion in mental health hospitals, another example of his efforts towards greater respect for the rights of people with mental health problems.
Those last years Knud was less active due to health problems and he retired from the European mental health scene.
He was a remarkable man, with his hearth on the right place. He was committed to the people who are the most excluded from society and to the cause of mental health.
We will remember him not only as a colleague but also as a kind, good friend.
A TESTIMONY OF PINO PINI,MHE BOARD MEMBER
For me Knud Jensen has been more a friend than a colleague. I met him about 20 years ago when I became part of the MHE Board (at that time ERC-WFMH). I like to remember Knud Jensen involved for many years with me and other friends in the so called "European Service User Satisfaction" project. Trough this project we could meet plenty of users, professionals and managers in different European countries. The "European Service User Satisfaction questionnaire" which was part of the general project has been translated in more than ten languages. The international user movement ENUSP, established in 1991, had many links with this project; the project stimulated the creation of new user groups interested in evaluation and contributed to giving more confidence to people for active participation in projects that were generally considered as exclusive for the professionals.
Without the support of Knud the project would have had difficulty even in the MHE board. Edith Morgan, another dear friend, was sometimes stressing the fact that it would have been better to have a completely independent evaluation project run only by users. But we all knew the good relationship between Knud and the users, especially within SIND, the Danish mental health association; that was enough to guarantee the good quality of the project. We have been working with him in Odense, in his hospital, and then in his own house nearby the sea, writing down the user evaluation questionnaire, professionals and users together, working hard, but also having a very good time in a wonderful atmosphere.
Knud was not at all an anti-psychiatrist. Sometimes I did not understand how he could combine his commitment in the research of innovative projects with his institutional practice. He never gave an answer to this contradiction to my eyes. He loved to work in the psychiatric hospital as I love to work within the community. He did not understand why I was so critical against the psychiatric hospitals. But we accepted each other and also our differences. We were both very interested in the good quality of the relationships among people and in the users' involvement in services. During the last MHE board meetings that he attended, about ten years ago, he appeared worse and worse, a really suffering person. Then he disappeared totally from MHE. We heard from Danish colleagues that he was not well at all, and now he passed away.
I regret we did not have the chance to see each other again. Knud, I guess that I have not been clever enough to help you when you needed! This thought makes me a little sad.
Ciao
NEW MHE PUBLICATION: FROM INCLUSION TO INCLUSION - THE WAY FORWARD TO PROMOTING SOCIAL INCLUSION OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
Mental Health Europe (MHE) has a history and plays an important role in raising awareness and in combating the taboos, stigma and prejudices associated with mental illness. Mainstreaming mental health in the field of social inclusion has become a principal activity of MHE and a major area of concern for people with chronic mental health problems. In 2007, MHE carried out its work programme in the field of social inclusion under the title "From Exclusion to Inclusion: Making Social Inclusion a Reality for People with Mental Health Problems in the European Union" supported by the European Commission Community Action Programme to Combat Social Exclusion 2002-2006. The programme aimed at increasing efforts to raise awareness at all levels and among all actors of the current challenges and needs faced by people with mental health problems who are experiencing social exclusion.
The results of the work programme have been collated in MHE's new publication "From Exclusion to Inclusion - The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems". The report presents an overview of the situation of social inclusion of people with mental health problems across 27 Member States of the European Union.
Despite the prevalence of mental health problems in all the European countries and the magnitude of stigma, discrimination and social exclusion faced by people who experience a mental illness, there seems to be great need to strengthen the general understanding and recognition of this issue. This report aims to explain the specificity of mental health and mental illness, and to highlight the mechanisms that prevent people with mental health problems in many cases to be active citizens who can participate and contribute to the community and society in which they live. Moreover, it sets out concrete suggestions that can help professionals and policy makers to strengthen the framework for national strategy development and policy coordination within and between the Member States in Europe on issues relating to this particularly vulnerable group.
MHE hopes that the report can be a helpful instrument, for policy and practice alike, in the promotion of the social inclusion of people with mental health problems. The aim is to work towards a European society in which all people enjoy a high level of mental health, live as full citizens and have access to their human rights and to appropriate services and support when needed, through a better integration of mental health issues into the social inclusion process at the local, national, regional and European level.
The publication "From Exclusion to Inclusion - The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems" can be downloaded from the MHE website under:
http://www.mhe-sme.org/assets/files/From%20Exclusion%20to%20Inclusion-Final%20version.pdf
For further information: contact the MHE Secretariat, Email info@mhe-sme.org Tel +32 2 280 04 68, Fax +32 2 280 16 04
GET INVOLVED! PARTICIPATE IN THE 2008-2011 ROUND OF NATIONAL REPORTING ON SOCIAL INCLUSION POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES
The first cycle 2006-2008 of the integrated Open Method of Coordination (OMC) on Social Protection and Social Inclusion is about to be concluded. The integrated process has resulted in the publication of National Strategy Reports on Social Protection and Social Inclusion (short National Strategic Reports) including National Action Plans (NAPs) in the three areas of Social Inclusion, Pensions and Health and Long Term Care.
The EU Member States are currently in the process of implementing the measures outlined in their 2006-2008 National Strategic Reports. Moreover, preparations have started to take further the common objectives and into the next cycle of National Strategic Reports for each of the three areas for the period 2008-2011. The deadline for the submission of the new National Strategic Reports is 15 September 2008.
If you would like to get involved in the preparation of the National Strategic Reports in your country over the next few months to draw attention to mental health policy developments, please do not hesitate to contact the person responsible for the report in your country. The contact details are available on the European Commission website:
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/spsi/contacts_en.htm
On the Commission website, a Glossary can moreover be found, which explains and provides further information and links around the social inclusion process:
http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/spsi/glossary_en.htm
In this context, the recent MHE publications "From Exclusion to Inclusion - The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems in Europe" (http://www.mhe-sme.org/assets/files/From%20Exclusion%20to%20Inclusion-Final%20version.pdf) and "Good Practices for Combating Social Exclusion of People with Mental Health Problems" (http://www.mentalhealth-socialinclusion.org/publications.html) may be useful resources for promoting social inclusion of people with mental health problems at the national level.
For further information please contact Sogol Noorani at the MHE Secretariat: Email sogol.noorani@mhe-sme.org, Tel +32 2 280 04 68, Fax +32 2 280 16 04
REMINDER: MHE CONFERENCE "DIVERSITE IN ENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING.AN OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE", 7-9 AUGUST 2008, AALBORG (DENMARK)
MHE members and other interested organisations and people are kindly invited to submit their contributions at abstracts@mhe-aalborg.dk - make this event your event! Deadline: 1 May 2008.
For more information: the MHE Secretariat, E-mail info@mhe-sme.org, Tel +32 2 280 04 68, or visit the Conference dedicated website, http://www.mhe-aalborg.dk/
MHE REPRESENTATION AT VARIOUS MEETINGS
On 5 March, Mari Fresu participated in the EPHA (European Public Health Alliance) Policy Coordination meeting in Brussels.
On the same day, Sogol Noorani and Clara Gomez attended a debate on the impact of migration on intercultural dialogue, which was organised in Brussels by the European Commission and the European Policy Centre (EPC).
On 6 March, Elisabeth Muschik, MHE Vice-President, represented MHE at a meeting of the Social Platform Steering Group in Brussels.
On 7 March, the MHE Executive Committee took place in Brussels.
On 8 March, the MHE Board met in Brussels.
On 12 March, Mary Van Dievel and Mari Fresu participated in the Info Day 2008 on the 2008 Call for Proposals under the Health Programme 2008-2013, which was organised by the European Commission in Luxembourg.
On 13 March, Mari Fresu represented MHE at the EuroHealthNet Seminar on the EU Health Strategy in Brussels.
On the same day, Mary Van Dievel attended a preparatory meeting with the European commission and the French authorities in Brussels for the 7th Round Table on Poverty and Social Exclusion.
On 18 March, Sogol Noorani participated in a preparatory meeting for the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, which was organised by EAPN (European Anti Poverty Network) in Brussels.
On 27-30 March, Mari Fresu represented MHE at a meeting of the HELPS Project in Günzburg (Germany).