This is how it is, and that's why we want to share and celebrate it with all of you.
Indeed, the Catalan Mental Health Congress Foundation was established on September 14, 2000, following a process initiated at the 1st Catalan Mental Health Congress, which took place in February 1999 in Barcelona.
Twenty years of work contributing to the promotion and improvement of mental health in Catalonia, from our specificity as professionals, but always open to cooperative work with other groups such as users in the first person, family members, community leaders, political decision-makers, or citizens in general.
We want the celebration of these twenty years to be an occasion for review, internal evaluation, and recognition of the work done. A time to remember and acknowledge all those who have accompanied us at one point or another on our journey. Some of them are no longer with us, and we want to keep them in our thoughts at this moment. Josep Clusa, a founding member and president of the Foundation from 2005 to 2013, and Francisco Checa, also a founding member, a nurse, and very active in our Board of Trustees.
This is a time to acknowledge and appreciate the support and collaboration we have received from professional associations in their capacity as sponsoring partners. Some have been with us since the very foundation was established: the Official College of Physicians of Barcelona, the Official College of Psychology of Catalonia, the Official College of Nurses and Healthcare Professionals of Barcelona, and the Official College of Social Work of Catalonia. Since 2013, the Official College of Social Educators of Catalonia has also joined us. The support of these professional associations and the interdisciplinary perspective it provides has been, and will continue to be, one of the distinguishing features of our organization. In the coming years, we would like to extend this to other disciplines, including lawyers, architects, teachers, journalists, economists, among others.
The celebration of these twenty years will also be a time to remember our origins and take stock of the work done in the different areas and working groups of the Foundation, to assess how the needs and policies in mental health have evolved and how the role, objectives, and projects of an organization like ours must also evolve.
We had different proposals for celebrating these twenty years, but given the situation we are in, conditioned by the coronavirus crisis, not all of them will be possible. Imagination and a certain amount of improvisation will be needed. No problem! Uncertainty and complexity have also been companions at some point in the journey during these twenty years, and we will incorporate them into our celebration as well.
For now, we are launching this website, where we will receive and incorporate contributions from friends, travel companions, who will talk to us about the Foundation, their experiences, and points of view on a project that is collective and that we have made possible together.
For the last months of the year, and as circumstances permit, we have planned various cultural and debate events to foster opportunities for meeting, exchange, and celebration. We will keep you informed about these and other initiatives.
Hello and may we continue sharing and doing for the Foundation for many years to come!
Victor Marti i Carrasco
Director FCCSM
Barcelona, May 2020