Description
In Poland, the possibility of immediate psychiatric help in a crisis is limited - the average waiting time for a visit to the clinic is approx. one month. Project objective is to counteract social exclusion by offering instant psychiatric intervention for people in mental health crisis based on an Open Dialogue Approach (ODA) developed by Jaakko Seikkula in Finland. It involves meetings of individuals in mental crisis with members of their social networks and an intervention team. ODA Team will be appointed to arrange and conduct therapeutic meeting in patient's home within 24 hours from notification. Thanks to mobility, ODA Team will be able to offer assistance to people from small towns without easy access to support services, inter alia. Through educational impact and active involvement of social welfare institutions, schools, local government units, health clinics, and even workplaces, ODA will raise awareness of mental health issues across Dolnośląskie voivodeship community. Project will benefit people in mental health crisis and members of their social networks (c.a. 100 persons) in Dolnośląskie voivodeship.
Summary of project results
"Every year in Poland there are about 80,000 first time admissions to psychiatric hospitals. After initiating treatment about 72% of patients lose their jobs, nearly 60% claim disability and never go back to work. Families often lack adequate knowledge about mental disorders, which results in fear, encourages exclusion of the ill from close relationships, joint work and activities. In small communities this fear is reinforced by diminished anonymity; limited possibility to benefit from psychiatric assistance, and the waiting time for a visit which is about 4 weeks. Mobile teams that could reach the patient's home are scarce. The project aimed to counteract exclusion of persons experiencing a mental health crisis through specialist support administered according to the Open Dialogue Approach method (ODA). Under the project 78 people in mental health crisis in Lower Silesia Province have received specialist support. An ODA team was set up (17 people) consisting of therapists, teachers, psychologists, a psychiatrist and social workers. An assistance centre, including a 24h emergency hotline has been launched, where 392 calls were received during the duration of the project. If a given problem was not eligible for intervention within ODA, another institution or possibility was suggested. The first meeting was organised urgently, if possible within 24 hours from the notification, at the patient's home or a place of his/her choosing. 174 therapy sessions were carried out. Since mental health crisis always touches the entire social network, and this network is the participant and the audience of the therapy process, persons in mental health crisis participated in sessions together with members of their families and social networks (friends, employers, employees of local institutions etc.) The beneficiaries of the project included 78 families of persons experiencing mental health crisis together with their social networks, i.e. about 110 people and 60 public institutions."
Summary of bilateral results