Developing a concept for integrated services to improve children´s mental health

Project facts

Project promoter:
Ministry of Social Affairs
Project Number:
EE08-0004
Target groups
Civil servants/Public administration staff,
People with mental health problems
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€282,667
Final project cost:
€282,109
From Norway Grants:
€ 239,793
The project is carried out in:
Estonia

Description

In Estonia,there is currently no child mental health concept which ties health care and social services into one comprehensive system.The objective of the project is to develop a concept-paper with concrete plans for a system of children´s mental health services and interventions with reduced fragmentation in service provision.The activities carried out through the pre-defined project will endorse the cooperation between different services and will result in a final concept aiming also to improve the system for children`s mental health services through more effective interventions in an integrated approach.The primary target group of this project are specialists and other relevant stakeholders in the field.In the longer term also children and their families will benefit from the developed concept.Exchange of experience with Norway is considered an important part of the project for gathering more knowledge about integrated approaches for mental health systems.

Summary of project results

In Estonia help for children with mental health problems is fragmented and poorly coordinated between different sectors and levels of service provision. Therefore the objective of the project was to develop a concept paper to build up a system of children`s mental health services and interventions with reduced fragmentation in service provision and improved regional coverage with integrated health, education and social care services for children and families. The project started with the underlying analysis of the current situation regarding to the mental health which pointed out several recommendations how to improve the mental health system in Estonia. These recommendations were taken into account in the concept where needful changes were described. However besides the concept paper additional activities were made under the project. For example four screening instruments ( M-CHAT –R/F - The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers); PSOC (Parenting sense of competence scale); FFSS – (Family Functioning Style Scale) and KIDSCREEN-52) were adapted for professionals working with children and families at risk. Moreover a training programme based on the concept (the aim was to improve mental health related knowledge among specialists from different sectors) was piloted in two municipalities (Vändra parish and Haapsalu city) and the training programme is ready for implementing it in other municipalities as well. In addition, one of the activities was updating child health check up guideline for family doctors and nurses which currently doesn´t cover children´s cognitive and emotional development. During the project period clinical questions with recommendations have been chosen by the expert group. So, the project implementation has been very successful as it has achieved more than initially planned. The concept will be a basis for improving the quality of the interventions and service management and coordination reforms, increasing the accessibility to the services in order to prevent and reduce the children`s mental health problems in the future. The outcome of the project is a continuing process of developing and integrating the services in the health care, social, child welfare and educational system.

Summary of bilateral results