Title: National Meeting of Families of People with Mental Illness
Country: PORTUGAL
Form(s) of actions:
One day meeting with conferences and thematic sessions.
Type(s) of actions
Information/education; networking/partnership building.
Summary:
The National Meeting of Families of People with Experience of Mental Illness is an annual citizens’ initiative organized by the National federation of associations of families of persons with mental illness experience (FamiliarMente) with the support of National Coordination of Mental Health Policies. In its ninth edition in 2024, the theme of the Meeting was “Family: The right to participate”.
Aim:
Promotion of debate and reflection on pertinent topics of mental health.
Main stakeholders:
National federation of associations of families of persons with mental illness experience (FamiliarMente); National Coordination of Mental Health Policies; Health Ministry; Families of persons with experience of mental illness and their associations; Persons with experience of mental illness; Municipalities; Academics; Journalist.
Issues addressed:
In 2023, for instance two sessions were dedicated to the establishment of Family Associations in the Context of Local Mental Health Services. In 2024, the theme of the Meeting was “Family: The right to participate”, including a conference with the title: Families: Challenges to Participation and a Panel dedicated to Family Associations: new and experienced ones.
Outcome
The meeting has each year high levels of participation and its recording is made available on youtube. In 2018, “225 people participated, including family members, professionals and users. Among the speakers and lecturers, 28 personalities were involved, the majority of whom were leaders in the areas of Health, Mental Health, Justice and Social Security.” (cited from FamiliarMente Activity Report) No further information was found on-line related to outcomes/results.
Sustainability:
This is an annual meeting, in 2024 it was the ninth edition (IX), organized in partnership with the National Coordination of Mental Health Policies.
Link(s):
https://familiarmente.pt/index.html;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnTSqwGWgWQ;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ddw72m-TI
Data source: FamiliarMente Webpage, its activity resports and conference programs (available on-line)
