Mental Health in Palestine: Psychosocial rehabilitation and social inclusion 7-9 June 2015

Transcription

1 Mental Health in Palestine: Psychosocial rehabilitation and social inclusion 7-9 June 2015 Training Course The aim of the training course was to reinforce the community mental health services of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, increasing staff competences and skills on psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery, as well as to foster the implementation of pilot initiatives envisaged by the Posit project (support to self-help and user associations, day-care and job placement/social cooperatives). The three-day training of trainers will be followed by one-day workshop in several Health Directorates to involve most of the mental health staff working in West Bank. International experts and local professionals from different sectors (MOH/PHC, Universities, NGOs) participated to the training course, with presentation of the best practices in the mental health system of Palestine, in order to strengthen the community mental health services and ensure sustainability for change. PROGRAM 1 day (Bethlehem) 9:00-9:30 Welcome address and course presentation. Asad Ramlawi, Hazem Ashour, Enrico Materia 9:30-11:30 Palestine new mental health strategy. Service organization for community mental health. Benedetto Saraceno 12:00-13:00 Psychosocial rehabilitation. Benedetto Saraceno 14:00-16:30 Group-work Designing a comprehensive Mental Health System for a inhabitants town: service organization and human resources. Four subgroups, Jenin, Salfeet, Jericho and Hebron rapporteur of each subgroups. 1

2 2 day (Bethlehem) 9:00-11:00 CBT, family therapy and self-help in the context of the mental health team/user/family relationships. Angelo Corrivetti 11:30-13:00 Social cooperatives (an Italian best practice). Angelo Righetti 14:00-15:30 Projection of the movie: We can do that (English subtitles) 16:00-17:00 The role of user and family associations. Hebron, Tulkarem, Family association (Ramallah), Expert from Campania Region 3 day (Haloul) 9:00-11:00 Interventions on children and adolescents. Eyad Al Azzeh (Haloul), Virginie Mathieu (MdM), Sabrina Russo (An Najah) 11:30-13:00 Best practices in Palestine: Mental Health Centre of Haloul and An Naja University 14:00-15:30 Group work 1 day, Shepperd Hotel, Bethlehem The first day of the course started with the opening remarks from dr Hazem Ashour director of the Mental Health Unit and from dr Enrico Materia head of the Posit project of the Italian cooperation. The course was held by dr Benedetto Saraceno, former Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva and current consultant for WHO for the new mental strategy of Palestine. He focused his intervention on the services organization for community mental health and on psychosocial rehabilitation. He emphasized importance to adopt an integrated system of service delivery to address comprehensively the full range of psychosocial needs of people with mental disorders in order to deliver a high standard of mental health care. A number of policy recommendations for service organization have been highlighted such as: 1) shifting care away from large psychiatric hospitals, 2) developing community mental health services, and 3) integrating mental health care into general health services. Following the WHO framework which conceptualizes an optimal mix of services for mental health, this reinforces the idea that no single service will meet all needs, and that what is needed is an optimal mix of a range of services. 2

3 In the afternoon dr Saraceno proposed a group-work Designing a comprehensive Mental Health System for a inhabitants town: service organization and human resources. He divided the participants in two groups asking them to design a comprehensive Mental Health System for a inhabitants town. Then he put himself in the role of Ministry of Health and the participants of the other groups had to ask questions and raised doubts or comments on the project. 3

4 2 nd day, Sheperd Hotel, Bethlehem The trainers of the second day were the expert from Campania Region, dr. Angelo Righetti psychiatrist with a wide experience in social cooperatives and dr. Giulio Corrivetti, from the mental health department of Salerno. Dr. Corrivetti focused his intervention on the psychoeducational intervention, self-help and the home visits system realized in Birmingham where a systematic use of home visits is performed. Dr. Righetti introduced the projection of the movie: We can do that, with English subtitles. Following the film a lecture was held regarding the social cooperatives and how to realize them in Palestine. A very intense debate continues after the lecture among the participants. Dr Righetti answered to several questions going in depth in the Italian experience. 3 day Children and adolescents centre, Haloul The day was open by the introduction to the Children and adolescents centre of Haloul made by the Director, dr Eyad Al Azzeh. He showed a documentary on the activities of the centre. The psychologist Virginie Mathieu, from Medicine du Monde Switzerland that supported the Haloul centre from its opening, presented her intervention on the minimal best practices in the treatment on children and adolescents. The psychologist Sabrina Russo from the An Najah University presented the Child Institute Project Centre and the activities on autistic children, raising a discussion on the pharmacological treatment of children in Palestine. 4

5 The discussions during all the course sessions showed an active role of the participants. They were 30 professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and social workers coming all the mental health centers in West Bank and from the mental health hospital in Bethlehem. 5