Report 2024 - Mental Health: Global Challenges of XXI Century

Organized in cooperation with the Coordinating Center for Mental Health of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with the support of Khmelnytskyi OVA. General sponsors of the congress "Perlyna Podillya" LLC, MH4U, THE BEARR TRUST Partners of the congress were such prominent organizations as World Federation of Mental Health, International Platform "Mental Health: Global Challenges", Institute of Social and Political Psychology, Irrsinnig Menschlich, Khmelnytskyi University management and rights named after Leonid Yuzkov, Institut für Neuropsychotherapie Wien, OSCE, Colorado Christian University, NGO "Center for Strategic Initiatives", Equality in Action, Red Cross Society of Ukraine, Integra, IDEE, pharmaceutical companies "Zdravo", "Farmak" , "Medocemi", "PharmaStart". The idea of the congress was to develop a platform for the interaction of state and public organizations working in the field of mental health with Ukrainians affected by the war. In addition to the congress itself, a number of activities were planned that took place before and after the beginning of the congress.

School day

On the basis of the Khmelnytskyi Humanitarian and Pedagogical Academy IPSI together with the founders programs "Mental. So what?” Manuela Richter-Werling and Norbert Goehler spent a school day with the students. The goal of the project is psychoeducation and support for young people. The program is structured in such a way that the participants first get to know each other, then through open discussions, they gain knowledge about mental health and the possibilities of seeking help, and in the created format of trust, they can ask questions that interest them and get information about where to turn for support

In the evening, an open meeting of youth and education specialists was organized in the Department of Education , who work with young people. The panel discussion was attended by Manuela Richter-Werling, Norbert Goehler (founders of the organization Irrsinnig Menschlich, Germany), Petr Navka (chairman of the Mental Health Association "Integra", Slovakia) and Christopher Tupi, (co-founder of IDEE Austria, a national human rights organizations for people with mental disorders)

The congress was built in the form of a presentation part, then 7 parallel workshops on various topics related to programs for restoring stress resistance, organization of services and services for mental health in communities, trauma-sensitive approach in schools, communication with veterans and their families, prevention of professional burnout and destigmatization of people with mental disorders. After the workshops, the participants gathered to participate in a joint panel discussion. Among the speakers, both the Ukrainian experience and the experience of international colleagues in building services were presented. In total, 136 participants from different regions of Ukraine and abroad and 75 online participants took part in person.

We express our sincere gratitude for thorough and meaningful reports to our honorary speakers: Prof. Tsuyoshi Akiyama - President of the World Federation for Mental Health, Prof. Sabina Börer-Köhler, elected president of the World Federation for Mental Health, Olga Gorbanyova, expert of the Coordination Center for Mental Health of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of the All-Ukrainian mental health program "How are you?", Ksenia Voznitsynii, director of the "Center for Mental Health and Rehabilitation" Lisova Polyana" of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine", to Oleksandr Darmoros, a veteran psychologist, Orest Suvalo, the Executive Director of the Institute of Mental Health of the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Coordinator of the Development of Services in Communities of the Ukrainian-Swiss Project Mental Health for Ukraine - MH4U, Jan Pfeiffer, the Senior Expert on deinstitutionalization of Mental Health Europe, consultant of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry, chairman of the board of the Center for the Protection of the Rights of People with Mental Disorders, Congress 17-19.05 "Generating community mental health", Christopher Tupi, co-founder of IDEE Austria, a national human rights organization for people with mental disorders, prof To Robert van Voren, Andriy Vrshansky, head of the Mental Health League in Slovakia, Joshua Kreimaier, professor of the master's program in clinical mental health counseling at Colorado Christian University in Denver, Petar Navka, founder of "Integra", Haustova Olena Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Head of the Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of NMU named after O.O. Bogomoletsa, Irina Ratske-Rybak, psychologist, psychoanalyst, group analyst, training analyst, supervisors, Alina Garbuz, Ph.D., clinical traumatologist, licensed professional counselor, certified EMDR therapist and consultant, certified Brain Health Coach and Professional Life Coach, to Professor Graham Tonicroft of public psychiatry at the Center for Global Mental Health and the Center for Implementation Science of King's College London, Valeria Rybak, director of the NGO "Human Rights Vector", Olesya Bondar, project manager for psycho-social assistance to war victims of the "OSCE for Ukraine" support program , Yvonne Kostinii, co-founder of "VeteranHub", Jani Javihashvili, prof. of psychology and director of the Addiction Research Institute at Illia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia, Oleksandr Moldavskyi, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Doctor of Medical Sciences (Heidelberg University), Natalia Hnatiuk, president of "Safehouse" - center for intensive therapy of crisis states for children and adolescents, Eduard Maron, psychiatrist, prof. of Psychopharmacology, University of Tartu, Prof. Donati Schöler