The first Mental Health Chair of Catalonia is established to foster a comprehensive approach to mental illness

Creating and providing knowledge based on scientific evidence to promote, prevent and assist mental health in people on a holistic and integrated basis – that is the mission of the Mental Health Chair of the UVic-UCC, the Althaia Foundation and the Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences and Welfare of the UVic-UCC, under the auspices of the Centre for Health and Social Care Research (CESS), the first of its kind in Catalonia, which has been established to become a benchmark and catalyst for research, and to transfer its results to the healthcare field. The Chair was presented at the Althaia Foundation last Tuesday.

Dr Pere Bonet, a specialist in psychiatry with extensive professional experience, is the executive director. Gemma Prat, a doctor in Psychology at the Althaia Foundation, and Salvador Simó, a doctor in Occupational Therapy and a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Welfare at the UVic-UCC, are the co-directors. The Chair is based at the Territorial Teaching Unit of the Faculty of Medicine of the UVic-UCC in Manresa.

The standing committee consists of the Hospital Consortium of Vic, the Althaia Foundation, Osonament, Ampans and the UVic-UCC with the Faculties of Medicine, Health Sciences and Welfare, and Health Sciences at Manresa. An international council has also been established, and professionals from the universities of Karolinska, Porto, Leipzig, North Wales and CH Bezier will be monitoring its work.

Mental health is the cornerstone for an individual's and a community's well-being and effective functioning. That is why it is very important that the healthcare system provides a response to mental health problems, especially those of a chronic nature, using the various resources available from an comprehensive and community perspective, and with the coordination of all the professionals involved.

The Chair will emphasise the development of Recovery, a new approach in mental health that makes the individual the key player in the therapeutic process and encourages their personal growth. In this paradigm, the concept of recovery does not refer simply to clinical recovery, but also to how the person faces their life in order to make it as satisfactory as possible. This is a continuous process, which involves acquiring or recovering many aspects of people's daily life which may have been lost due to their mental health problem.

Research and teaching - priorities

The Chair's projects include research, with the recently created Research Group on Mental Health and Social Innovation (SaMIS) and initiatives linked to innovation, neuroscience and ICTs, promoting their application to healthcare practice. Its priorities also include teaching, with the organisation of various courses, workshops and seminars aimed at professionals, as well as the postgraduate course in Mental Illness and Behavioural Disorders in People with Intellectual Disabilities, which is planned to become a master's degree in the medium term.

Dr Pere Bonet who was head of the Mental Health Division of the Althaia Foundation for 18 years and has extensive professional experience, is the director of the Chair. He is also the president of the Mental Health Cluster of Catalonia, president of the Advisory Council of the Master Plan for Mental Health and Addictions of the Government of Catalonia, and a lecture on the master's degree course in General Health Psychology at the UVic-UCC. He was a founding member of the Mosaic Project and coordinator of the "Mental Health Management" Working Group for the WHO Mental Health Programme in 2003, among many other initiatives. He is the author of various studies and articles that have been published in specialised publications.

Thirteenth chair at the UVic-UCC

The Mental Health Chair joins the 12 chairs that were already in place at the UVic-UCC. These units act as catalysts for research and training projects on specific aspects that enable collaboration between the University and other public and private bodies, to generate scientific and technological knowledge and to transfer it to society and to the production sector.

In addition to the Mental Health Chair, the chairs in Bioethics, Palliative Care, Medical Education, Health and Population, Social Services, AIDS and Related Illnesses, ICT Health and Simulation and Patient Safety also work under the auspices of the CESS. The latter, as well as the newly established Chair, is located on the Manresa campus. Other Chairs include the UNESCO Women, Development and Culture Chair, the Verdaguer Literary Studies Chair, the Agroecology and Food Systems Chair, and the Water, Nature and Welfare Chair.