Training in Lithuania: Mental Health and Development Education?

The Global Initiative of Psychiatry (GIP) invited TRIALOG for a 2day training in November 11-12 to Vilnius (Lithuania). Topics included the EU-strategy 2007 – 2010 for the Thematic Programme Non-State Actors and Local Authorities, the Annual Action Plan 2008 and the expected Call for Proposal on Development Education and Awareness Raising in Europe. The training was open to other Lithuanian NGOs as well.

12 participants from two networks working on the issue of mental health problems as well as in the field of intellectual disabilities, tried to interlink the topic of disabilities in developing countries with their regional focus on Georgia, Moldova and the Caucasus Region, in order to elaborate concrete projects to raise awareness in Lithuania and other European countries.

As a result of the training, aims and goals, indicators and assumptions of future awareness raising projects have been elaborated and formulated. Apart from this outcome, the group had interesting and challenging discussions on the whole dimension of mental health problems: on definitions, on where they start and how they are able to influence the development of a society – especially where mental health problems are combined with HIV/Aids. It seems much more "accepted", if health related problems are clearly related with traumatic experiences – with the consequences of war, natural disasters, violations. But even then, the affected persons are mostly excluded from their families and their societies.

A second training together with GIP will take place in December 4-5, 2008 in Sofia, in cooperation with the Bulgarian platform on international development and its member NGOs.

Information provided by Petra Kreinecker, TRIALOG