Description
The project reflects the need to deinstitutionalize psychiatric care and engage families and local communities to rehabilitation of young patients with SMI (e.g. severe mental illness) in their natural environment. We want to build and implement the Parent Program managed locally by parents themselves. The Program will focus on educational and self-help activities for parents. The expected outcome of the project is an informed, engaged and empowered parent, capable of accepting an active role in his/her son´s or daughter´s case. We will recruit and train parents as regional Program coordinators; they will organize self-help groups and educational activities; subsequently gather impulses for the development of care providers and support system for families. The primary target groups of the project are parents of young patients with SMI and the young patients themselves will benefit from the social impact of the Parent Program, too. The project partner, SYMPATHEA, o.p.s., is one of the two parent organizations in the Czech Republic which supports parents of children with diagnosed mental illness and presses for better living conditions of patients, their parents and relatives.
Summary of project results
The main goal of the project was to empower the target group of parents of offspring of schizophrenic illness (psychotic illness), to empower them and to engage in activities aimed at improving the living conditions of the families of such offspring (sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and buddies). The self-help groups of parents of offspring of schizophrenic patients therefore work in 12 cities in 9 regions, which is a great success compared to the planned two regions. We also managed to address parents from traditionally isolated regions and offered them, along with web site, also personal meetings or telephone consultations with coordinators.
Summary of bilateral results