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Description
Lithuania has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. As more than 50% of people who commit suicide struggle with depression. Mental health care professionals are difficult to access and quite expensive for the Lithuanians. It is difficult to recruit mental healthcare specialists willing to work in provincial municipalities.Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is well developed in countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Norway. CBT has been thoroughly tested and shown to be as effective as antidepressants. This therapy is highly standardized, using specific methods for specific problem solving. Numerous meta-analyzes have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of this therapy. Many countries have begun training not only psychologists or psychiatrists, but also nurses, social workers, and other professionals to provide short, cost-effective, evidence-based, standardized advice from CBTs to address the lack of human resources and over-prescribing of drugs.
Their purpose is to help people cope with the very first symptoms of depression and anxiety.
What will be done while implementing the project?
The project aims to develop a training programme and train at least 30 highly motivated specialists to provide short, evidence-based, standardized consultations for people on how to deal with the first symptoms of depression and anxiety.Target group that will benefit from the project: Lithuanians who are experiencing the first anxiety, depression syndromes and do not seek medical help.
Summary of project results
Lithuania is one of the leading countries in terms of the number of suicides in the world. More than 50% of those people who committed suicide suffered from depression. Human resources for mental health care are scarce and expensive, and it might be quite challenging to attract mental health care specialists to work in provincial municipalities in Lithuania. To address the lack of human resources and overprescribing, many countries have begun to train not only psychologists or psychiatrists but also nurses, social workers, and other professionals to provide brief, cost-effective, and evidence-based, standardized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) counseling to help people cope with the first episodes of depression and anxiety symptoms.
AIMS OF THE PROJECT: To develop, adapt and pilot a training program and train highly motivated specialists who will be trained to provide short, evidence-based, standardized consultations for people on how to deal with the first symptoms of depression and anxiety.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES: 1) a training program for social and health science specialists to train specialists to provide brief, evidence-based, standardized consultations based on CBT prepared and;2) suitable candidates for the training program selected and trained to provide short, evidence-based, standardized, CBT-based consultations in two training programs during the project implementation; 3) supervised and monitored newly trained specialists during the first years (months) of their practice;4) the implemented model was evaluated and adapted.
A model of emotional well-being was presented and a specialized training program for well-being advisers has been developed, implemented and tested during the project. The model envisages emotional well-being counseling services in Lithuania. The training program is adapted to the long-term training of specialists and ensuring the continuity of services. A new free service has been introduced in Lithuania.
During the entire project two trainings were held and 60 well-being advisers were trained with the project funds and an additional 25 EGKs who studied at their own expense. Currently, there are 85 specialists in Lithuania who can provide services. Supervision - training and monitoring took place during the project. Individual supervisions took place in groups, thus providing an opportunity to observe and discuss arising questions to all new specialists.
During the project Emotional well-being services were provided to 4,221 clients in fourteen municipalities of Lithuania. On average approx. 4.5 consultations were provided per client. The emotional state of all counseled persons improved statistically significantly after counseling by emotional well-being counselors. 50 percent of individuals who received the services of emotional well-being counselors were in a significantly more difficult emotional state than expected. However, despite this, the counseling was very effective and the conditions improved as assessed by standard scales. Almost all persons stated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the services and only 0.2 percent were not very satisfied with the services. The services of emotional well-being counselors are very effective in helping people with light emotional disorders. It is necessary to provide such services as widely as possible to improve the mental health of society. The services will continue to be provided after the project implementation. Postgraduate training courses (420 hours) for the training of emotional well-being advisers approved by the Lithuanian University of Health Science, which will be conducted as needed, but no more than once a year. In this way, the long-term use of the training program and the training of specialists will be ensured. The project is upscaled and funding for the well-being advisers services will be available for all municipalities that will introduce new services in their territories.