The introduction of experts by experience in a Barcelona psychiatric hospital due to the implementation of the EMILIA (Empowerment of Mental Illness Service Users: Lifelong learning, Integration and Action) project

Introduction:

The EMILIA is sixth frame-work European Project aimed at improving social inclusion of mental health services through the implementation of a training programme based on the Life Long learning (LLL) methodology. The project has 16 European partners in total, eight of whom are Demonstataion Sites, Barcelona being one of them, where training has been carried out with 20-30 mental health users. The project is now almost four years old and will come to an end in Feb 2010. The implementation of EMILIA has created the empowerment of users, the recognition of their expertise in the field of mental health and the use of this knowledge to help mental health institutions learn and develop. This poster will discuss how the group of EMILIA trained mental health users are now inciting the next step of change; creating the role of Experts by Experience (EbE) working within a psychiatric hospital.

Objective:                       

The EbE will:
·       Help other mental health users understand better the Mental Health Institution, informing them about hospital layout and procedures.
·       Help users and professionals alike to understand each other better.
·        Act as link between the new user and the community, buying the newspaper or bringing cigarettes for the hospitalized user.
·       Help stimulate relationships between the user and their social network of friends and family.  

 

 Methodology:

 Trained EMILIA users will under go further training to learn more about the workings of the institution and helping others to work towards empowerment.It is planed that for the first five months each EbEs will be supervised by a member of the clinical staff of the Psychiatric Day Hospital to help with any problems.

 Conclusion:

 The EbE has a key role in linking the hospital with its staff, its patients and social network of its patients, and hence is a vital figure in the community.