XX Anniversary of the Catalan Congress of Mental Health Foundation

 

Àngels Vives Belmonte
President of FCCSM (2000-2005 and 2014-2018)

The dream
I wanted to tell a short story about a dream. A dream that arose from a small group. A group of professionals who formed the Board of the Psychiatry Section of the Official College of Physicians of Barcelona.

The dream was like creating a space where all involved could rethink together what we call Mental Health. How to think about it? From where? And how to create a space to care for ourselves.

In 1995, the gestation began for what, later, in 2000, was born as the Catalan Mental Health Congress Foundation. I have the honor of having been involved in this work for twenty-five years to make the dream a transformative reality.

We had in mind what William Shakespeare tells us: «La realitat està teixida amb els fils dels somnis».

Gestation
It included a period of almost five years, during which the initial group relied on the cooperation of other involved professionals, social workers, nurses, psychologists, and later social educators. It also included the clients, their families, and the general public.

Any 1995-96. The meetings, the working groups for the Preliminary Conference, were made up of journalists, lawyers, architects and urban planners, philosophers, writers, educators, teachers, artists, and of course, all professional groups of psychologists, social workers, nurses, and doctors. Later, also social educators. And family members and users.

We had a political interest in bringing our concerns to the attention of the various departments, not just Health, Presidency, Health, Social Welfare, Labor, and Education.
Any 1997. First Preparatory Conference of the First Congress (1997), First Catalan Congress of SM (1999).

 

The birth
Any 1999. First Catalan Congress of Mental Health, posed from a question What is Mental Health? In Mental Health, we are all essential. Emili Mira Memorial. Xarxart Award. More than a thousand attendees.

 

The recognition
Any 2000 with the Catalan Congress of Mental Health Foundation, with the establishment of the Board of Trustees, professional associations as protecting members, and the Board. A Platform for one year allowed for the transition work.

The CCSM Foundation has a beautiful structure and its core values are preserved in its DNA.

The foundational structure is supported by a cohesive group of professionals (Board of Trustees and Board of Directors) and by the five collegial structures that sustain it. This embryonic idea relates to an original premise: health is a group, collective, community issue. We cannot think of it as a matter of diagnoses.

This DNA, or the values that determine its actions, could be summarized as:

  • Promoting transformations and changes
  • To reach all stakeholders through a capillary community network that provides citizens with a space to share, express, and communicate with others. Discussion.
  • Multidisciplinary Space. Xarxart. Art and Health. Innovation. Rigor.
  • Defense of good practices in SM care. Ethical commitment.
    Cohesion and care for professionals.

 

The work done and the work to be done
Now we head to the Seventh Congress. So far we have dealt with many topics: the Borders of the Psyche, the Construction of Care, the Economic Crisis, Migration and Refugee Issues, the next will be about ICT and its impact. Also, in due course, Conferences on the occasion of the Iraq and Balkan wars. We are also organizing, with our colleagues from the Network for Children and Adolescents, the Catalan Congress.
We've done a lot of work. And there's a lot left to do.

I have had the honor of presiding over the gestation (1995-1999), the birth (2000-2005), and a later period (2014-2018) of the Board at important times. I am very aware that a large number of people have done the work. I do want to highlight Lluís Isern, in the initial direction of the Foundation, and subsequently and until now, Víctor Martí, a key player in the Foundation. Also Montse Martínez Gobern as Vice President and especially Josep Clusa, who was president of the Foundation for eight years. Now Josep Vilajoana as president and Ada Ruiz as vice president. A special place for Neus García as secretary.

The work carried out by all members of the Boards and the Board of Trustees has been important over these twenty years. I know how they have worked, organizing spaces for reflection on important issues at each moment.

Spaces to welcome fear, desolation, and the loss of fundamental human rights.
I want to highlight the groups that over the years have worked, creating documents, bringing the needs of the collective to the political arena and the Administration.

The Healthcare Ethics Committee (CEA), and the working groups before and after the congresses. Also those that have followed their working meetings for years: Community SM Group, GIE - Exchange and Elaboration Group, Reflection Group for the Use of Psychopharmaceuticals (GRUP), and others. The Thinkers Group, which has been active for ten years and many other working groups that have involved hundreds of professionals and thousands of hours of work.

This is a story I wanted to tell during a difficult social time. The COVID-19 crisis, with the loss of many lives and much suffering. We will need to rethink things.