MHE Report: From Exclusion to Inclusion - The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems
Despite the prevalence of mental health problems in all the European countries and the magnitude of stigma, discrimination and social exclusion faced by people who experience a mental illness, there is general need to strengthen the general understanding and recognition of this issue.
As a result of MHE's 2007 work programme in the field of social inclusion with the title "From Exclusion to Inclusion: Making Social Inclusion a Reality for People with Mental Health Problems in the European Union" (supported by the European Commission Community Action Programme to Combat Social Exclusion 2002-2006), MHE's has developed the report "From Exclusion to Inclusion - The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems". The report presents an overview of the situation of social inclusion of people with mental health problems across 27 Member States of the European Union - Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
The report aims to explain the specificity of mental health and mental illness, and to highlight the mechanisms that prevent people with mental health problems in many cases to be active citizens who can participate and contribute to the community and society in which they live. It sets out concrete suggestions that can help professionals and policy makers to strengthen the framework for national strategy development and policy coordination within and between the Member States in Europe on issues relating to this particularly vulnerable group.
MHE hopes that the report can be a helpful instrument, for policy and practice alike, in the promotion of the social inclusion of people with mental health problems. The aim is to work towards a European society in which all people enjoy a high level of mental health, live as full citizens and have access to their human rights and to appropriate services and support when needed, through a better integration of mental health issues into the social inclusion process at the local, national, regional and European level.
The publication "From Exclusion to Inclusion - The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems" can be downloaded from the MHE website under: http://www.mhe-sme.org/assets/files/From%20Exclusion%20to%20Inclusion-Final%20version.pdf
For further information please contact the MHE Secretariat: Email [email protected]g, Tel +32 2 280 04 68, Fax +32 2 280 16 04