Open Minds

 
Promoting Mental Health and Well-being in the Community

What is the Open Minds project?


Doctors of the World Greek Delegation through its interventions during the years of both the financial and refugee crisis in Greece has been identifying the gaps and limitations of the existing mental system in Greece. The increased need for provision of mental health and psychosocial support services especially for the most vulnerable who face multiple barriers to accessing the national health system as well as for capacity building and raising awareness activities led to the implementation of the project “Open Minds: promoting Mental health and Well-being in the Community”.

The project, implemented from January until September 2018, aimed at tackling the problem of vulnerable populations with mental health issues, both migrants (asylum seekers and refugees) and Greek nationals who are destitute by providing them access to mental and psychosocial support and by ensuring that they can exercise their basic human rights. This was achieved through the provision of necessary mental health care and psychosocial support services, capacity building to the public mental health professionals and data collection as well as testimonies through which the inadequacy of the public system will be highlighted.

Objectives


I
a) Ensuring access to free and quality mental healthcare services and psychosocial support to the most vulnerable;
b) Proper referrals to secondary healthcare and social welfare structures when needed, as well as proper follow-up of their case.

II
a) Capacity building of public sector and NGO mental health professionals through workshops organized by MdM Greece
b) awareness raising activities through data and testimonies’ collection with regards to challenges and limitations of the current mental health system in Greece as well as promotion of community mental health and a holistic approach to national mental health sector.

The ultimate goal is to contribute towards Greece taking up its responsibility as an EU country with regards to the EU Framework for Action on Mental Health and Well-Being.

Guiding Principles


Mental Health is not just the absence of mental disorder. It is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively an fruitfully, and is able to contribute to her or his community.

With the use of term well-being MdM would like to emphasize to the condition of holistic health and the process of achieving this condition. Well-being has physical, cognitive, emotional, social and spiritual dimensions.

The “well-being” concept includes what is good for a person, such a participating in meaningful social roles, feeling happy and hopeful, living according to good values, having positive social relations and a supportive environment, coping with challenges through the use of healthy coping mechanisms, having security, protection and access to quality services and employing.

The term ‘psychosocial’ denotes the interconnection between psychological and social processes and the fact that each continually interacts with and influences the other. In this document, the composite term mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) is used to describe any type of local or outside support that aims to protect or promote psychosocial well-being and/or prevent or treat mental disorder.

The Open Minds project aims to promote mental health and well-being of people facing multiple health and social vulnerabilities (migrants, refugees, uninsured and destitute Greek nationals, Roma population) by providing them access to mental health and psychosocial support and by ensuring that they can exercise their basic human rights.

This goal is achieved through the provision of necessary mental health care and psychosocial support services to PoCs, capacity building to the public mental health professionals and data collection as well as testimonies through which the inadequacy of the public system will be highlighted. At the same time, the project aims at working together with the public mental health system in order to reinforce it.


mentalhealth
A key important aspect of the Open Minds project is the reinforcement of the national mental healthcare system through capacity building and raising awareness activities. In this context four separate workshops have already been conducted in two major cities (Athens and Thessaloniki). During those workshops, mental health professional coming from different backgrounds from public and non profit private MH sector exchanged views and experiences on the current state of play, the different challenges and the need for comprehensive multilayered MHPSS services, as to assess different levels of need and address them appropriately.

MdM position on Mental health is in compliance with WHO MHPSS guidelines.

Mental health is fundamental to our collective and individual ability as humans to think, emote, interact with each other, earn a living and enjoy life. On this basis, the promotion, protection and restoration of mental health can be regarded as a vital concern of individuals, communities and societies throughout the world.

Multiple social, psychological, and biological factors determine the level of mental health of a person at any point of time.

Poor mental health is associated with rapid social change, stressful work conditions, gender discrimination, social exclusion, unhealthy lifestyle, physical ill-health and human rights violations.

 

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info@mdmgreece.gr

advocacy@mdmgreece.gr

(+30) 210 321 31 50

 

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