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NEWSLETTER — JAMHWB

August 2015/2

In this issue:

Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being

Greetings from the coordinator, José Miguel Caldas de Almeida, MD, PhD. We are pleased to bring you updated information on the work developed by the EU Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being.

In the last two years working groups, integrating representatives of governments, universi-ties, professionals, users, families and other stakeholders, analysed the situation in Europe in each of the five main areas of the Joint Action: a) prevention of depression and suicide; b) developing community-based and socially inclusive mental health care for people with severe mental disorders; c) mental health at the workplace; d) mental health in schools; and e) integration of mental health in all policies.

With the collaboration of experts, they collected and analysed new data, gathered infor-mation using different methodologies, and reviewed the available knowledge that may contribute to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of future initiatives.

Based on this information, each Work Package drafted recommendations for action that were extensively discussed and improved with the participation of all relevant stakehold-ers. This Newsletter includes information about some of the most representative activities and initiatives developed to attain those objectives in the last few months; many others were also held across EU.

The reports with the situation analysis and the policy recommendations are now available for a large dissemination and discussion until the final conference to be held in January 2016.

Lets work together to put these recommendations into action.

José Miguel Caldas de Almeida (Coordinator, JA on Mental Health and Well-being)

Greetings

Stakeholders Meeting in Brussels

MH in All Policies Conference in Helsinki

Community-based Approaches Meeting

in Madrid

The Increasing Burden of Depression

Links / Upcoming Events and Projects

Editorial team:

Dora Gudmundsdottir and Ellen Sif Saevarsdottir

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Stakeholders Meeting in Brussels

On the 25th of February 2015 a Stakeholders Meeting of the Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-Being (JAMHWB) was held at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels. The meeting aimed at sharing, with relevant stakeholders of Europe, the work developed thus far in each thematic Work Package (WP) and discuss the collaboration of stakeholders in the next steps of the JAMHWB. Around 46 participants attended the meeting including representatives from 40 institutions of European organizations, NGO's interested in mental health and well-being, professional, users and families associations, and of other EU projects related with mental health issues.

JM Caldas de Almeida, coordinator of the JAMHWB, opened the meeting presenting a brief overview of the JAMHWB. Jürgen Scheftlein, from DG Sante, presented the current situation of mental health in Europe, discussed the challenges for the future, and summarised the main activities developed by the European Commission to promote mental health policies in Europe. The situation analysis and recommendations for action from the five thematic WPs were then presented by György Purebl and Ionela Petrea (WP 4), JM Caldas de Almeida (WP 5), Gregor Breucker (WP 6), Lorenzo Rampazzo (WP 7), and Kristian Wahlbeck and Johannes Parkkonen (WP 8), followed by participants’ comments and discussion on the issues. In the last part of the meeting several participants stressed the high level of the discussion that had taken place and the importance of promoting a wide participation of all stakeholders in the dissemination and implementation of the JA recommendations. All organisations offered to actively participate in the future work of the JA. The importance of feedback given by the stakeholders on the situation analysis and recommendations presented was underlined, and an important “take home” message was to make clear how to go from a framework for action to the implementation of the recommendations.

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Successful Mental Health in All Policies conference held in Helsinki

Mental Health in All Policies (MHiAP) conference brought together a broad range of experts, decision makers and other stakeholders in Helsinki 11-12 May, 2015. Conference theme was Supporting sustainability and growth in Europe, which vividly highlighted the importance of mental health and wellbeing as one of the success factors for flourishing societies and a prerequisite for economic growth. The conference participants reached a consensus that social, economic and physical environments have a great impact on mental health. Thus, mental health is promoted most effectively by efforts of different policy sectors at all levels of decision making, with the lead coordinating role usually resting with the health sector. However, due to differences between countries, there is no single model to follow, making ongoing information sharing and dialogue between countries important in ensuring efficient implementation of good practices.

On numerous occasions during the conference it was also emphasised that many important social determinants of mental health are not only social, but also structural that can lead to social exclusion or being shut out from employment. Therefore, the MHiAP approach should also champion policy interventions addressing structural determinants that operate within and increasingly across all countries. These interventions will produce downstream beneficial effects on people’s mental health.

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Successful Mental Health in All Policies conference held in Helsinki (continued)

Participants at the conference came mainly from the Nordic and Baltic countries and represented civil servants and other influencers from a variety of sectors and national, regional and local levels of government. There were also representatives from international and local NGOs as well as academic researchers. The plenaries and breakout sessions covered, for example, costs and benefits of addressing mental health issues, mental health promotion across the lifespan, workforce mental health and productivity, and cities as platforms for mental health. Good practices for partnerships across sectors and for mental health impact assessment and implementation were also discussed. The delegates also worked together to start shaping conference conclusions, which were finalised by end of June 2015 and the full version can be viewed at: http://www.mentalhealthandwellbeing.eu/assets/docs/publications/MHiAP%20Conference%20Conclusions%2011-12%20May%202015%20Helsinki.pdf.

The conference was organised jointly by The Finnish Association for Mental Health, The Finnish Ministry for Social Affairs and Health, and The Health Unit of the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (Chafea). The conference presentation documents are available from: http://chafea-mental-health-event.eu/documentation.jsp and the sessions can be viewed in web stream at: http://ec.europa.eu/chafea/health/mental-health-webstreaming_en.html.

http://www.mentalhealthandwellbeing.eu/assets/docs/publications/MHiAP%20Conference%20Conclusions%2011-12%20May%202015%20Helsinki.pdfhttp://www.mentalhealthandwellbeing.eu/assets/docs/publications/MHiAP%20Conference%20Conclusions%2011-12%20May%202015%20Helsinki.pdfhttp://chafea-mental-health-event.eu/documentation.jsphttp://chafea-mental-health-event.eu/documentation.jsphttp://ec.europa.eu/chafea/health/mental-health-webstreaming_en.htmlhttp://ec.europa.eu/chafea/health/mental-health-webstreaming_en.html

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Third Community-Based and Socially Inclusive Mental Health Care Work-package meeting held in Madrid

The third Joint Action Work-Package 5 (WP5) meeting, dedicated to Community-Based and Socially Inclusive Mental Health Care, took place in Madrid, in February 2015, with the participation of the following partners: Countries: Italy, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ireland and Estonia; NGO’s - EUFAMI, ESN, GAMIAN, ENUSP and MHE. The main topics addressed at the meeting were the overview of the Joint Action last developments, the planning for the third year and the conclusion of the WP5 Report. The report, to be published in the middle of 2015, will include the survey results on the transition to community care, a literature review, examples of good practices across Europe and a SWOT analysis in participating countries. These data, which allowed the development of Policy Recommendations on transition to community care, is completed with a set of actions per implementation area that build on the conclusions of the final report. The last year of the WP5 activities will be dedicated to the dissemination and implementation of policy recommendations. Capacity building activities will be at the core of this final stage of the Joint Action utilising several strategies, including barriers to policy implementation assessments and shared capacity building between EU countries, benefiting from different strategies and experiences across Europe in mental health policy implementation.

Successful actions can be further replicated in other EU Countries, supporting the need to have a European network dedicated to mental health services improvement, which lasts beyond the end of the project.

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The increasing burden of depression

According to the recent update of the Global Burden of Disease Study, between 1990 and 2013, major unipolar

depression (MDD) had a 53.4% increase in prevalence and a 53.4% in percentage change in YLDs, and

consequently became the second most frequent cause of years lived with disability YLDs globally. Recently

depression became one of the six leading causes of YLDs in almost all European countries, and became a major

public health challenge.

The cost of depression corresponds to 1% of the total economy of Europe (GDP). A majority of costs (between

65-85%, estimated at € 76 billion) arise indirectly from loss of productivity, increased morbidity, sickness

absence, early retirement and from increased mortality. Depression becomes an emerging economic challenge

as well. There are about 58,000 suicides in the EU every year. There are eight Member States that are amongst

the 15 countries with the highest male suicide rate in the world. Every 9 minutes an EU citizen commits

suicide. These dramatic figures invocate aligned actions on an international, national and local community

level. Tackling depression and suicide became an important policy level imperative in Europe.

The status report

The status report of WP4 revealed that despite the previous efforts of tackling depression and suicide, and

despite the existing best practises in Europe, under-recognition of depression is frequent; it is estimated that

around 50% of the cases remain undetected. Despite the existing best practises in Europe, several unmet

needs can be identified and may lead to the limited outcome of treatment. Although there are numerous

available evidence-based suicide prevention tools also, these are not fully exploited in Europe.

Nevertheless, best practices have been invested in Europe thus far and provide good examples for

implementation.

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The increasing burden of depression (continued)

Priority recommendations

Engage stakeholders at the government level to update health legislation to include depression and suicide

as a priority public health imperative.

Take measures against economic exclusion; promote social participation of individuals with mental health

problems during times of economic crisis. Support protective social networks.

Promote the systematic data collection about depression and suicide, about the responsible media

communication of suicidal events, and the restriction of lethal means and alcohol.

Stimulate investment in programmes targeted at families and high risk groups as well as targeting school

pupils, adolescents and teachers.

Stimulate investment in programmes increasing the recognition of depression in the health sector, in

general health care especially among patients with chronic conditions.

Increase the accessibility of treatment for depression through the increased accessibility of evidence-based

psychotherapies, E-mental health tools, psychiatric care and the availability of low threshold support in

crisis.

Strengthen the community response to mental health problems and reduce stigma.

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UPCOMING EVENTS AND PROJECTS

21 -24 September. Capacity building workshop from WP5 - Budapest/Hungary. 16 - 17 November. Meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts on Mental health and Well-being - Luxembourg. 21 - 22 January. Concluding Conference of the Joint Action on Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Health in All Policies Task Force. Report to

the Strategic Growth Council (2010)

Intersectoral Governance for Health in All Pol-

icies – Structures, actions and experiences

(2012)

The Helsinki Statement on Health in All Poli-

cies (2013)

Health in All Policies – Seizing opportunities,

implementing policies (2013)

Mental health Systems in the European Union

Member States, Status of Mental Health in

Populations and Benefits to be Expected from

Investments into Mental Health (EuroPoPP-

MH) (2013)

Lithuanian Presidency conference “Mental

Health: Challenges and possibilities”

(presentations) in Vilnius of 10-11 October

(2013)

LINKS

Conclusions Lithuanian Presidency confer-

ence in Vilnius of 10-11 October (2013)

Social Determinants of Mental Health (2014)

EU-Compass for Action on Mental Health and

Well being (2015)

WHO MiND bank (2015)

MHiAP conference conclusion, Helsinki 11-12

May (2015)

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