AZORES | “Our professionals are the most important strength of community mental health teams,” stressed Mónica Seidi

The Solar dos Remédios in Angra do Heroísmo hosted today the first face-to-face meeting of all Community Mental Health teams of Island Health Units, with the exceptions of Corvo, which does not have one, and Pico, which participated online.

The event was also attended by members of the Mental Health Structure for the Autonomous Region of the Azores.

This meeting was an opportunity for each of the teams to present their SWOT analyses, thus revealing their needs, and to receive contributions from other teams so as to assess the programme.

According to the Regional Secretary for Health and Sport, Mónica Seidi, “mental health remains a priority for the Regional Government, so it is important to listen to all the teams in this area and analyse the situation.”

“Our reality as an archipelago,” added the government official, “does not allow us to define a single model to be implemented but rather a model suited to each island and its reality, without forgetting the available resources.”

One of the goals is to reach patients more quickly and adequately and, for this, there is an “effective need for training.” Currently, there is a training session on the theme “Mental Health: mine and others” for General Practitioners and Paediatricians on the islands of São Miguel, Terceira and Faial, as well as another training session for nurses, which began in May and will only end in October. Additionally, there will be another training session on “3rd Generation Therapies” for psychologists, scheduled for September, said the Regional Secretary.

“The work is done with the pride of professionals and it is important that they realise that they are not forgotten and that they must be motivated on a daily basis,” praised the government official, who added that openness to the community and proximity to the population is another strength of these teams.

The criteria for referral from Primary Health Care to hospital care have already been published and, later this week, the same will be done with the criteria for inter-service referral of psychiatry in regional hospitals.

A second meeting was arranged to be held in three months for the approval of the regulations for each team.

GRA/RÁDIOILHÉU