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The association "Public Initiative on Psychiatry" was founded on
November 13 and registered on December 31, 1996.
Its
founders were psychiatrists and nurses who worked in the National
Mental Health Research Centre of Russian Academy of Medical
Sciences. Nowadays association unites professionals and the most
active users of psychiatric care.
The President of the association - Psychiatrist, MD, Professor
Vladimir Rotstein.
Board members: psychiatrist, MD., Ph.D. Marianna Bogdan
psychiatrist, MD, Ph.D. Sergey Dolgov
engineer Nadezhda Kutinova
Contacts: Phone / Fax: +7 (495) 912 6808
E-mail:
rotstein@pandepress.ru
Postal address: 109029 Srednyaja Kalitnikovskaya
sreet 29, Moscow, Russia
Policy of the Association is to carry out projects that bring
obvious benefits to specific groups of people. Our main activities
are
educational programs for patients and their families;
overcoming stigma and self-stigmatization of patients;
stimulation of social movement in a field of mental health.
Since
2000, our association is the full member of GAMIAN-Europe
(Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Network).
Our main projects:
Edition
of the informational newsletter "Katerina", started in 2000
and continuing to the present (all issues of "Katerina" in Russian
are available HERE).
Organisation and supervision of self-help groups
(the first group was founded in 1999).
School of self-help groups leaders.
The project started in December 2001 and completed in February 2004
The project was implemented in partnership with GAMIAN-Europe with
the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID)
in the framework of "Partnership in Health and Social Care
Partnership" (HSCP). Its aim was to provide the necessary knowledge
to people wishing to organize their own self-help group. For two
years, six cycles of three-month sessions were provided with about
40 people trained. Many of them run their groups now. Our “students”
have gained knowledge both in psychiatry and on the group management
. In the latter our British partners really helped us a lot with
their rich experience. Sixteen students attended seminars in Oxford,
where they participated in an extremely useful training (in
September 2002 and June 2003).
Psychoeducation step by step.
The project started in January 2005. Step 1: The organisation
of three-month educational cycles. Throughout the year, three such
cycles were provided, involving approximately 30 patients. Step 2:
in 2006-2007 our courses joined mental patients’ family members. It
became obvious that psychoeducation for patients’ relatives was
crucial, perhaps even more than for the patients themselves.
According to the personal stories of the listeners, due to the new
knowledge it became easier for them to find common language not only
with their ill family members, but also with their psychiatrists. As
a result, according to the common opinion their quality of life
improved significantly. Step 3: thanks to the collaboration
with the charity foundation "The Quality of Life" in 2007-2009
educational programs were started in the majority of Moscow
psychiatric institutions. In advance our association provided
educational trainings for future teachers (both professionals and
the most active users of mental health care). The textbook "Basics
of psychoeducation” (full text in Russian is available
HERE) has
been written and published. in 2010 due to the efforts of "Quality
of Life" foundation courses of psychoeducation started in a few
regions of Russia.
In
2010, with the support of AIMHP (Association for the Improvement of
Mental Health Programmes, President Professor Norman Sartorius) a
brochure entitled "
"Mental
Disorders: Informational Emergency"
has been written and published Text in Russian is available
HERE.
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