Challenge
The mental health sector is in a period of revision, mainly due to the incorporation of the rights paradigm in the framework of public mental health policies, both at European and national level. The rights paradigm has gained political strength within the framework of the Convention on the Universal Rights of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations (2006) and has been gaining presence and relevance in the last decade. Thus, it is reported that we are in a moment of controversy and review of public policies and the models of care and treatment that are deployed in the field of mental health.
The Acute and Subacute Units and the practices that take place there are also affected by this wave of debate and analysis towards mental health. New ways of understanding and giving meaning to these institutions emerge and, therefore, new objectives that guide the models and practices that take place there.
Answer
Obertament, the Catalan association fighting stigma, is starting a project that aims to develop an intervention to fight stigma in acute and sub-acute mental health units of Catalonia.
To carry out this intervention, a study of the state of the situation in the acute and sub-acute units is carried out, which serves as a starting point to develop co-creation workshops where different agents of the sector are represented, mental health users’ associations, family organizations and professional who work in the units.
The result of this whole work process is a brief study of the situation of the units in Catalonia and 17 proposals to introduce improvements in these mental health facilities.
