Mental Health, Family and the Patient Living in the Community – A Campaign against Stigma

As part of our action on the fight against the stigma of mental illness, SOPSI organized with success a campaign to provide information on mental illness to the public. Major goals were to inform the public about what really constitutes a mental illness, for example, its causes, manifestations, consequences, stigma attached, as well as to sensitize them on relevant matters. Our ultimate objective is to organize public meetings in all the major municipalities of Athens. 

The campaign was launched on the 9th of October at the city of Marathonas in the newly opened Museum of the Marathon Runner. Our next meeting was held on the 21st of October at the Pasteur Institute, where we were pleased to notice that a great number of people, family members, professionals and advocacy organizations, attended our meeting. On the 23rd of October we visited the Public Theater of Kiato, a city approximately one hundred kilometers outside of Athens. Although we didn’t expect to have a big audience, to our surprise many people actually came and actively participated in our “mini” conference. The campaign continued on the 11th and the 29th of January at the municipalities of Nea Ionia and Argiroupoli respectively. Both took place at the conference centre of the city hall and were attended by local authorities, mental health professionals and interested public. 

The major themes of our meetings are aspects of community psychiatry, different approaches to rehabilitation and the importance of the involvement of the family in the treatment process. Speakers from a wide-range of disciplines were invited to participate, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, other mental health professionals and local authorities. Indicatively, some of the topics of discussion were: mental illness, its myths and realities, the role of the family, attitudes towards the patient, stigma attached to mental illness, family support groups and psychoeducation, and the networks and coordination of mental health services in the community. Following the lectures, the audience had the opportunity to raise questions and make statements on the topics discussed.

In addition, implicit to this project is the promotion of the work and activities of SOPSI. As an association we aim at directly informing potential members who could benefit from enrolling at SOPSI, about its existence, and services offered. In addition, besides providing information about SOPSI’s Hostel and Day Center, we inform the public about the available community mental health services in Athens.  Through are years of experience we have, unfortunately, realized that a significant number of families are not receiving the required treatment interventions and adequate support to help them, among other things, to overcome their difficulties and improve their quality of life. Therefore, SOPSI, strives to bridge this gap by informing the general population, thus, reaching out to people and families that couldn’t have been informed, and received help from SOPSI otherwise. In addition, through this project, we encourage the foundation of family associations in other parts of the country and the establishment of a well-coordinated network of SOPSI’s around Greece.

Finally, the organization of GAMIAN – its mission, activities and initiatives – is mentioned and briefly discussed, to promote the notion that efforts are made by many European countries to improve the treatment of the people who suffer from mental illnesses as well as to provide support to them and their families.

Elvie Kanellopoulou
Psychologist

Kassiani Vretou
Psychologist