WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY – FCCSM STATEMENT
On the occasion of World Mental Health Day which the World Health Organization convenes each year, from the Catalan Mental Health Congress Foundation we wish to adhere to all the initiatives being promoted for the awareness and improvement of problems related to mental health worldwide.
In our immediate context, we are experiencing moments of change that open up new perspectives and we want to believe that we are facing new opportunities. Some examples include the approval of the new Mental Health Plan by the Barcelona City Council, or the recent statements by the Minister of Health acknowledging, now indeed, the negative impact the crisis has had on the population's mental health, as well as on the demand for care and the quality of public services. Consequently, an important increase in the budgets allocated to mental health is necessary, and has finally been announced by the same minister, Toni Comin, along with the defense and prioritization of a community-based model.
We believe these advances in acquiring certain commitments and defining new health policies are not exempt from the pressure and leadership exercised by professional organizations and platforms, as well as by families and users. In this regard, the CCSM Foundation has been present in this process, in the discussion and development of these new policies, and we wish to continue to be so, maintaining our institutional and ideological independence, and offering constructive criticism in service to the country and collective interests.
Barcelona, October 10, 2016