MHE new publication:"From Exclusion to Inclusion – The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems"

Funded by the European Commission Community Action Programme to Combat Social Exclusion 2002-2006, Mental Health Europe (MHE) issued a new publication, "From Exclusion to Inclusion – The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems". The report focuses on the social inclusion of people with mental health problems across the 27 Member States of the European Union.


Given the high level of stigma, discrimination and social exclusion experienced by people who experience a mental illness, there is general need to strengthen the public understanding and recognition of this issue.

As a result of MHE’s 2007 work programme in the field of social inclusion, 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 [1].

The report aims to explain the specificity of mental health and mental illness, and to highlight the mechanisms that can prevent people with mental health problems from being 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 act as a useful 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. This aim can be achieved through better integration of mental health issues into the social inclusion process at the local, national, regional and European level.

For further information

- MHE Report"From Exclusion to Inclusion – The Way Forward to Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Mental Health Problems"

- MHA website]

EPHA related articles

- Spotlight on Mental Health Europe (MHE)
- article 2841
- WHO/Europe suggest improvements for regulations on housing and health
- International Day of Older Persons and Mental Health – October 2007

Footnotes

[1] 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

Last modified on March 31 2008.