The Di Liegro Foundation participates in the 2nd National Conference for Mental Health

On Friday 25 June, our Foundation participates in the 2nd National Conference for Mental Health, entitled “For community mental health”. The event, promoted by the Ministry of Health, is scheduled for Friday 25 and Saturday 26 June 2021 in online streaming mode.

Twenty years after the first National Conference in 2001 and in light of the new challenges also posed by the pandemic, the meeting constitutes an opportunity to dialogue and discussion between institutions, operators, associations and citizens to design a universal, inclusive, transparent and participatory mental health system.

The Di Liegro Foundation will take part in the parallel session in working groups entitled “The role of user associations, family members and volunteers in mental health services”. During her speech, Dr. Anna Maria Palmieri will illustrate the role of the private social sector for an integrated care system in the community and in the territory. A particular focus will be dedicated to priorities and actions, from the principle of subsidiarity to effective socio-health integration, from attention to the young age group to the strengthening of the front lines of intervention in the area (family doctors, schools, family counseling centers ), up to family support and community involvement.

The two-day event aims to:

• reaffirm the principle, as supported by the World Health Organization, that there is no health without mental health, and what it is condition for the economic and social development of communities;

• reiterate the public responsibility for mental health policies, to guarantee the right to care and social inclusion uniformly throughout the national territory;

• analyze in a participatory and transparent manner the functioning of mental health services, organizational models, human and economic resources used, the quality of responses to the health needs of the population and practices for respecting citizenship rights;

• rethink future policies, also in light of the vulnerabilities that emerged during the pandemic, valorising good practices and taking community mental health as a frame of reference.

The realization of the Conference takes place at the conclusion of an in-depth path developed over over a year through the work of the Technical Table for Mental Health established at the Ministry of Health, and various thematic seminars.

“The analysis conducted by the Technical Committee highlighted the strengths and areas in which the care system requires intense maintenance work – he explains Fabrizio Starace, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addictions of the AUSL of Modena and coordinator of the technical table on mental health - from mental health services for children and adolescents to integration with interventions and social policies; from the more careful and timely monitoring of activities to the strengthening of the collaborative relationship with the Regions, for a effective fight against inequalities of access and treatment on the national territory”.

The topics covered in the thematic seminars will be debated during the event with special sessions built starting from the hundreds of proposals and contributions collected. These sessions will be open to public participation who, through dedicated web page on the Ministry of Health website, will be able to access it and interact with the speakers.

Among the issues addressed in the working groups that will meet on the afternoon of the 25th: the qualification of services, the mental health of minors; preventive actions and care in migrant populations and custodial contexts; teamwork, professions, training; good and bad practices of care, social inclusion and support for independent living; the role of user, family and volunteer associations. The last part of the day will be dedicated to the Pathological Theatre, an experience with high social and artistic value. THE

The conference proceedings will open on June 25th from Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, which will be followed by the interventions of Minister of Justice, Marta Cartabia, of the Minister of Labor and Social Policies, Andrea Orlando, of the President of the ANCI National Council, Enzo Bianco, of the President of the Molise Region and member of the Presidency Office of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, Donato Toma, and of Dévora Kestel, Director of the WHO Mental Health Department. This will be followed by a moment dedicated to the testimonies of users, family members, operators and structures active in the sector. Holding the threads of this narrative will be Massimo Cirri, radio host of Rai Radio2 – Caterpillar, and psychologist with 25 years of experience in public mental health services. The Italian experience inserted in the international context will be presented by Giovanni Leonardi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, and by Benedetto Saraceno, Secretary General of the Lisbon Institute for Global Health.