Making Mental Health a Global Priority

World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day is one of the WFMH's major projects and is part of its efforts to reduce the stigma associated with mental illnesses and to call governments' attention to this issue with the aim of enacting mental health policies grounded in human rights.  

World Mental Health Day was created by the WFMH and has been celebrated every year since 1992 with the purpose of raising awareness in the global community so as to join forces to empower volunteers and individuals in the community to act and create permanent change. This project has been officially recognized by the WHO.

While thousands of activities take place on Mental Health Day and it is celebrated around the world, this year, we have chosen to hold this key event in Trieste, Italy because of its importance as a model of how mental health issues might be approached all over the world.

World Mental Health Day is a great forum in which we can all put aside our differences in order to work to reduce the stigma of mental health and highlight the need for increased investment in metal health and the necessity of shrinking the divide that exists in mental health systems.

In most countries, the human right of people who suffer from mental illness to access socio-medical systems is not recognized. Society's depictions and the stigma associated with this issue result in discriminatory attitudes and practices and in mental illness's marginalization, both in society as a whole and within the health system in particular.

People who suffer from mental illnesses are often removed from health facilities and, in many cases, cannot access mental health services in their own communities, which forces them to utilize services that are located far from where they live, making it difficult or impossible for their family members or loved ones to accompany them.

In this context, we need to enact policies that facilitate socio-medical inclusion, with mental health facilities located in communities where people live and reserve general hospitals and health facilities for more complex cases and situations of crisis or risk.

We need to develop services based in the community that are interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, and rights-based.

Alberto Trimboli
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Presentation

On the occasion of the World Mental Health Day, Trieste hosts a meeting organized by the AASM (Argentine Association of Mental Health) and by the WFMH (World Federation for Mental Health), conceived more than a few months ago to mark this day by proposing a reflection not only on what happened in this city for mental health in the course of half a century but, starting from here, reflect together on what is happening in the world.

The meeting will take stock of the reasons for the World Mental Health Day’s theme, which calls for greater attention and commitment to guaranteeing mental health to all, a right that must be recognized by all, and with it psychophysical well-being.

The main issues related to it will be discussed in some roundtables by professionals, leaders and stakeholders. The first, on the importance of deinstitutionalization, with some of the most recent experiences in Europe and Latin America. It follows the theme of human rights, one of the central aspects of the transformation possible today, addressed from the legal, policy and practice point of view. What happens internationally in the construction of mental health services in the community, the progress and successes achieved and the risks of regression, and the prospects for reform, will be the subject of a further session. The Mental Health Forum will relaunch these questions regarding the present and future of mental health in Italy, calling to the meeting operators, family members, people who use the services, the third sector. The conclusions will be entrusted to the promoters of the initiative and to the head of mental health in Europe for the WHO.

Roberto Mezzina
Trieste, Italy

Date

October 10 - Time to be determined

Modality

Hybrid: in person and virtual.

Place

From the Hotel Palace Suite in Trieste, Italy (streamed live for a global audience)

Simultaneous interpretation

• English
• Spanish
• Italian

IMPORTANT: Those who attend in person and wish to hear the simultaneous interpretation should bring their mobile phones and headphones so they can listen to an interpretation in their language.

International Speakers

(confirmed as of this moment)

Hotel Palace Suite

Salón San Nicolò
Via San Nicoló 34 - Trieste TS, Italia

Program

October 10, 2022 - 11:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. (Italy time)
Trieste, Italy

11.30 - 12.00 - ACCESS ZOOM
Opening Ceremony
Alberto Trimboli (Past President WFMH / AASM – Argentina)
Nasser Losa (President WFMH - Egypt)
Gabriel Ivbijaro (Secretary General WFMH)
Silvia Raggi (Secretary WFMH/AASM -Argentina)
Juan Carlos Fantin (Director WFMH / AASM - Argentina)
Roberto Mezzina (VP WFMH - Italy)
Gustavo Bertran (AASM - Argentina)
Gianfranco Trincas (DSM ASUGI - Italy)

12.00 - 13.00 - ACCESS ZOOM
Make Mental Health and Wellbeing a Global Priority

-Chairs: Silvia Raggi (AASM / WFMH Argentina) / Juan Carlos Fantin (AASM / WFMH Argentina)

- Gabriel Ivbijaro (Secretary General WFMH, UK)
- Nasser Losa (President WFMH, Egypt)
- Ingrid Daniels (Past President WFMH, South Africa)
- Roberto Mezzina (Vice President WFMH, Italy)

13.00 a 14.00 - Break

14.00 a 15.00 - ACCESS ZOOM
Deinstitutionalization: an ongoing challenge

Chair: Liliana Moneta (AASM / WFMH)
Chair: Roberto Mezzina (WFMH)

Rossana Seabra (University of San Paulo - UNESP, Brazil)
Julieta Calmels (Argentina, Secretary of Mental Health of Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Andreja Rafaelic & Katarina Ficko (Ministry of Welfare, Slovenia)
Regina Bisikiewicz (President Polish Institute of Open Dialogue, Poland)
Jan Pfeiffer (Ministry of Health and Welfare, Czech Government)

15.00 a 15.15 - Break

15.15 a 16.15 - ACCESS ZOOM
Human Rights and Mental Health: are they key for transformation today?

-Chairs: Pablo Fridman (AASM - Argentina) / Alberto Trimboli (WFMH-AASM)

Piero D’Ingillo (LASD, USA)
Daniele Piccione (Italian Parlament, Italy)
Gabriele Rocca (Italy, President WAPR)
Gisella Trincas (Italy, President UNASAM)

16.15 a 16.30 - Break

16.30 - 17.30 - ACCESS ZOOM
Community mental health services: are they at risk of regression?

-Chairs: Roberto Mezzina (WFMH - Italia) / Gustavo Bertran (AASM - Argentina)

John Jenkins (UK)
Silva Bon (Italy)
Sashi Sashidharan (UK)
Tim Kendall & Brendan Stone (UK)

17.30 - 17.45 - Break

17.45 - 18.45 - ACCESS ZOOM
The future of mental health in Italy. Open Assembly (Mental Health Forum)
Chair: Peppe Dell’Acqua (Italy)

18.45 - ACCESS ZOOM
Closing ceremony – Conclusions
Roberto Mezzina
Alberto Trimboli
Juan Carlos Fantin
Peppe Dell’Acqua

Finak remarks
Ledia Lazeri (WHO office for Europe)

Registration

To register click HERE