EU invests €7.6 million in mental health recovery
A €7.6 million EU INTERREG VA funded cross-border project has been launched in response to the increase in numbers of people with mental health problems.
The three areas which will have new recovery college services are: Area 1 West: Derry, Coleraine, Letterkenny, Strabane and West Donegal; Area 2 South: Cavan, Monaghan, Sligo, Leitrim and Fermanagh; and Area 3 East: Dundalk, Belfast City, Armagh, Newry and Louth.
Over the next four years, the large-scale, cross-border Innovation Recovery project offers an unprecedented opportunity to empower and enable people and communities to take greater control over their own mental and emotional wellbeing.
This EU funding allocation has been secured by the Co-operation and Working Together (CAWT) Health and Social Care Partnership.
The CAWT project partners are the HSE, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, the Western Health and Social Care Trust, the Public Health Agency and the Health and Social Care Board.
The recovery colleges will provide education as a route to recovery, with courses devised and delivered collaboratively by people with their own experience of mental illness along with mental health professionals.
By adopting this educational approach, alongside or as an alternative to more traditional therapeutic options, it is planned that those participating will be enabled to better understand their mental health. Ultimately, people will be supported to recover and to be able to create a satisfying and meaningful life for themselves.
Jim Daly TD, Minister for Mental Health and Older People at the Department of Health in Ireland and Dr Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health in Northern Ireland jointly announced the launch of this cross-border initiative at an event in Dundalk.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Daly said, “This is an important EU funded project which is taking a cross-border approach to developing additional support services for those with mental health difficulties and I congratulate the CAWT partnership for securing the EU funding.”
He added, “The Innovation Recovery initiative is taking a community-based approach by supporting people to better understand and manage their mental health within their own localities. The recovery ethos is one which the Department wholeheartedly embraces and is reflected in current policy and practice.”
Also speaking at the event, Dr McBride added, “The Department is delighted to be launching this cross-border mental health project. The aims and objectives of the project chimes with our priorities for a modern health and social care service, in particular, the focus on early intervention and self-management.
“It is about giving people the tools and support to identify their needs in recovering from and managing their own mental health. It encourages participants to draw upon both their own personal resources and the support of the wider community.”
Adrian Corrigan, Assistant Director of Mental Health Services for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust said, “The Innovation Recovery project complements and enhances Trust mental health services and our community and voluntary partners, by empowering and supporting individuals and their families and the wider community through a learning, educational approach.
“At the heart of the recovery college approach is that the participants engage with and learn alongside those who have experienced similar mental health issues,” he added.
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Posted by Newry Times News
on Mar 20 2018. Filed under Community.
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