Mental Health Centre for Children and Youth of Pärnu Region

Project facts

Project promoter:
Pärnu Hospital
Project Number:
EE08-0008
Target groups
Children
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€690,239
Final project cost:
€619,189
From Norway Grants:
€ 447,364
The project is carried out in:
Lääne-Eesti

Description

Currently mental health service provision in Estonia is fragmented and is poorly integrated with other relevant sectors. According to the Estonian Psychiatry Association, at least 12-20% of children aged under 18 have diagnosable mental health disorders. As a result of the project a Children and Youth Mental Health Centre will be established in Pärnu region, which encompasses activities and services and also has a coordinating role in shaping, monitoring, supporting and improving the mental health of the county's children. The Center’s operating philosophy is based on a knowledge-based approach; cooperation between institutions operating in relevant fields and functions as a systemic and integrated unit.The established centre ensures that children's psychiatric treatment, psychotherapy and social services are available and provided as needed.The main target group is children and families but also specialists working with children with mental health problems will benefit from the project activities. The Norwegian partners are included in project activities as experts in the field and will supervise staff working in the centre.

Summary of project results

Mental health services for children and their families are poorly accessible in Estonia even though mental health problems among children and youth are increasing. Moreover specialists often lack knowledge and skills about children´s mental health problems. Therefore the project in Pärnu region aimed at improving service coverage in the county and increasing quality of the services by training specialists who are working with children in the health care, social and education field. Also preventive measures as educating parents and raising awareness about mental health problems were emphasized. As a result of the project, Pärnu county’s children and youth mental health centre was established which provides services and holds coordinative role in shaping, observing, supporting and improving region’s children’s mental health. The centre’s main philosophy is based on knowledge-based approach and collaboration between institutions in the health care, social, education and police system. All specialities on field were gathered together in a unitary complex, which assures better conditions on child and youth psychiatry treatment-, psychotherapy- and social services. In total 653 children got needful services during the project period. The centre provides individual counselling, family and group therapy, consultations to specialists in the social and education field. Besides therapeutical work also 382 parents were educated about children´s mental health problems and parenting skills. Cooperation between different specialists was enhanced by regular supervision and trainings. The satisfaction survey showed that 87% of patients and 77% of the employees were satisfied with the services. Also local municipalities in the county valued highly the centre´s work. It´s also important to note that Pärnu mental health centre started to use Scott and Miller performance Metrics scales which able to evaluate patient´s satisfaction in a various ways. The centre is an unique model in Estonia which binds together health care, social and education field and is a very good role model for other counties as well. Also funding comes from different sources, for instance health care services are financed by the National Health Insurance Board, social services by the local municipalities and preventive activities are financed from the state budget. Overall the project has helped to make a major progress forward in the mental health field in Pärnu county.

Summary of bilateral results

In cooperation with the Norwegian partner two study tours were organized for getting an overview and experiences about working with children and families with mental health problems in Norway. In the course of the study trip, Norwegian partners introduced different services for example out-reach service; intensive therapy service (in-patient) and various out-patient therapy services as well as different assessment tools and service evaluation forms. Moreover the main contact person, Lars R. Lund, (a representative of the project partner) participated in the Pärnu children and youth mental health centre team meetings as a supervisor in total of 4 times. He also made presentation at the project´s opening and closing event and helped to adapt service evaluation scales (Scott and Miller performance Metrics scale) into Estonian which are now used by the therapists in the Pärnu children´s mental health centre.