“Without mental health there is no health”. This is one of the phrases that were repeated yesterday around the information tables that were set up both at the entrance of the Can Misses Hospital and the es Viver health center to recognise International Mental Health Day, which is commemorated on October 10th. A day in which both associations and professionals show they are dedicated to the fight against stigma surrounding the issue.

Precisely the Anti-Stigma Group was responsible for organizing all of yesterday’s events for the Health Department. A group that currently includes psychiatrists Isabel Moreno and Maria Jose Gordillo, nurses Sonia Boned and Laura Sevillano, psychologist Silvia Marí, occupational therapist Laura Sevillano and rehabilitation monitor Yolanda Carvajal. “The aim of this day is to avoid prejudices in society and, with it, the stigma suffered by people who live with a mental health issue,” said Health.

Accompanied by members of the Pitiusa Pro Mental Health Association (Apfem) and the Aldaba Foundation, they informed users and families of the resources available from the public health system: the Psychiatry and Short Stay Hospitalization units, the Day Hospital, the Dual Pathology unit and the mental health units of es Viver and infant and juvenile mental health, located in Vila.

The management of the Department of Health especially highlighted the work of the Day Hospital, a device “of transition between outpatient treatment and full conventional hospitalization. In it, they explained, “fourteen group activities are offered to patients who are in partial hospitalization”.

Requests for more investment in mental health

Precisely, the Official College of Psychology of the Balearic Islands (Copib) yesterday called for the protection of child and youth mental health as a priority strategy to “ensure good emotional health for people throughout life”. The Copib appealed to both citizens and institutions to “acknowledge the value that the development of minors, breaking stigmas and favoring a better understanding has for the issue.”

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