Begun in Michalovce, now a national campaign.

Programme Highlights

• At The Slovak programme has been established as a new NGO, Otvorme dvere, otvorme srdcia (Open the Doors, Open Your Hearts), or ODOS.
• Since September 2002, a new pilot project, "Transformation to an Integrated System of Mental Health Care," has been creating a standard regional model of mental health care and regional plan in Michalovce. People from all fifteen of the major Slovak institutions that work directly or indirectly with mental health are participating. Reducing the stigma associated with mental illness is one of the main goals of this project.
• To provide employment opportunities for people with mental illness, the Karolina tea house has been established in the centre of Michalovce. This public venue will provide opportunities for client interaction with the public, for education programmes on anti-stigma issues, and for developing partnerships to reach a wider audience.
• In partnership with a local television station and an NGO working with the media, the Club of People with Schizophrenia is cooperating with Irrsinnig Menschlich from Leipzig on a media project. Club members have received training in filmmaking and are learning to develop their own stories, as they would like to see them presented to the public. From July 2002 till May 2003, the group participated in the first international filmmakers' workshop for people with schizophrenia from Slovakia and Germany entitled "Against the Images in our Heads".
  

Programme Coordinator
Dr. Petr Nawka
Psychiatric Hospital
SK 071 01 Michalovce
Slovakia
Fax: 421-56-642-3150
Email: [email protected]
_______________________