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. 2019 Jun 10;19(1):174.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-019-2162-z.

Recovery for all in the community; position paper on principles and key elements of community-based mental health care

René Keet  1 , Marjonneke de Vetten-Mc Mahon  2 , Laura Shields-Zeeman  2 , Torleif Ruud  3   4 , Jaap van Weeghel  5   6 , Michiel Bahler  7 , Cornelis L Mulder  8 , Catherine van Zelst  9 , Billy Murphy  10 , Koen Westen  11 , Chris Nas  12 , Ionela Petrea  2 , Guido Pieters  13
Affiliations

Recovery for all in the community; position paper on principles and key elements of community-based mental health care

René Keet et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Service providers throughout Europe have identified the need to define how high-quality community-based mental health care looks to organize their own services and to inform governments, commissioners and funders. In 2016, representatives of mental health care service providers, networks, umbrella organizations and knowledge institutes in Europe came together to establish the European Community Mental Health Services Provider (EUCOMS) Network. This network developed a shared vision on the principles and key elements of community mental health care in different contexts. The result is a comprehensive consensus paper, of which this position paper is an outline. With this paper the network wants to contribute to the discussion on how to improve structures in mental healthcare, and to narrow the gap between evidence, policy and practice in Europe.

Main text: The development of the consensus paper started with an expert workshop in April 2016. An assigned writing group representing the workshop participants built upon the outcomes of this meeting and developed the consensus paper with the input from 100 European counterparts through two additional work groups, and two structured feedback rounds via email. High quality community-based mental health care: 1) protects human rights; 2) has a public health focus; 3) supports service users in their recovery journey; 4) makes use of effective interventions based on evidence and client goals; 5) promotes a wide network of support in the community and; 6) makes use of peer expertise in service design and delivery. Each principle is illustrated with good practices from European service providers that are members of the EUCOMS Network.

Conclusions: Discussion among EUCOMS network members resulted in a blueprint for a regional model of integrated mental health care based upon six principles.

Keywords: Community-based mental health care; Mental health system; Position paper; Principles.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Development process of the position paper. The figure shows the stages the position paper was developed in, and the experts who have been involved in each stage
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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