Tailoring Law and Health Initiatives to promote Inclusion on Mental Illness Erasmus Project

Project Title

Tailoring Law and Health Initiatives to promote Inclusion on Mental Illness

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Home and justice affairs (human rights & rule of law); Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

With the economic and social crisis, drug abuse, personal stress and longevity the numbers on mental illness are increasing and are being the focus of attention from the WHO (Mental Health Action Plan, 2013-2020). Partner countries are developing national strategies on Mental Health that encourage community-based services that will assure the maintenance of the family and friendship bonds. When questioned about mental illness people reveal they are still full of pre assumptions, even professionals that need to relate with these citizens. Worldwide strategies are being implemented in the area of justice in order to reduce the contact of people with mental illness with the judicial system and receive proper treatment and assistance. Among these experiences are training police forces to properly intervene with this group of disadvantaged people. Considering this and the experience of the partnership (we support => 500 people with mental illness), we identified the need to provide specialized training, both to people with mental illness and law enforcement officers, on how to relate mutually and creating cooperation practices. Portuguese Police of Public Safety (PSP) specifically informed us on the will to acquire knowledge in this theme and cooperate on integration practices.
Sustained in the principles of inclusion and tolerance, we expect to:
1) improve life quality of people with mental illness by assuring their assess to community based services that promote their sense of belonging;
2) improve the access of people with mental illness to information, training and education by providing them with tailored training offers that address their needs specifically;
3) promote innovative VET practices in the sector of defence by giving tailored training opportunities to police;
4) allowing people with mental illness to continue their trajectories on the institutions where they attend vocational and job experiences by preventing them from escalating relations with the judicial system.
In order to achieve this, we will create and provide specific training to:
1) people with mental health issues on the themes of informed consent, mental health law, rights and obligations, when relating to law enforcement and courts, and protection and privacy of personal data (trainees =>75);
2) law enforcement authorities, inspired particularly by the EUA experiences, on how to deal with people with mental illness and how to work on the basis of a preventive use of authority (trainees =>50).
The main Implementation Activities will be:
IA1) conducting the construction of the IO
O1) Cooperation Practices between Training, Health and Law – Research Survey – updated information on what people with mental illness and law enforcement think about each other and what they feel is important to be in the training programs;
O2) Law, Justice and Health – Training Manual for People with Mental Illness – contents, approaches, materials, experiences from the training of people with mental illness;
O3) Specialized Law Enforcement Training Program on Mental Health – contents, approaches, materials, experiences from the training of police officers;
O4) Manual on Cooperative Practices on Education, Health, Law and Community Network – identification of cooperative practices and recommendations;
IA2) preparing and developing the Teaching/Learning Activity – brief course on “Participation, Education and Fundamental Rights” led by the Maastricht University with attendance from 8 participants with mental illness;
IA3) preparing and developing the Multiplier Events – dissemination the Outputs and involvement of VET institutions, law enforcement agencies, social area institutions, health and law stakeholders and policy makers at regional, national and international level.
The consortium has the skills and competence to carry this project trough assuring its success. It is constituted by research centres from universities on the field of rights and mental health, which are CDB from the University of Coimbra and DHES from the University of Maastricht, well known for their distinct contributions for research, and by social economy entities, which are ESTUAR, APCC and SPORA, all working in the area of inclusion of people psychiatric disorders. The partnership has multidisciplinary teams, very well skilled and educated with experience relating to the rights of people in disadvantage and psychiatric disorders.
We will asseverate the integration in the national VET systems of the training programs (via the National Agencies for Qualifications and Police Training Centres) that will allow all institutions to replicate the training programs developed and assure its longer-term benefits. All materials will be put available in order for all that wish to improve the life of people with mental illness can use them. We expect the innovative character and the impact of the project on people´s lives to spread and reproduce throughout Europe.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 179168 Eur

Project Coordinator

Centro de Direito Biomédico & Country: PT

Project Partners

• SPORA SINERGIES SCCL
• ASSOCIACAO DE PARALISIA CEREBRAL DECOIMBRA IPSS
• UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
• Fundatia Estuar