On the occasion of the commemoration of World Mental Health Day (October 10), the departments of Social Welfare and Health of the Alfàs del Pi City Council have organized a special program in order to raise awareness among citizens about the repercussions of mental pathologies and delve into aspects such as the labor insertion of people with mental health problems.
This special program began with the placement of a commemorative banner on the façade of the Alfàs Town Hall and the reading of a manifesto in the Plenary Hall. Events held together with the AFEM Marina Baixa Association, in which the Alfasina councilors of the Presidency, Mayte García, and of Health and Social Welfare, Marisa Cortés, among other authorities, met.
The president of AFEM Marina Baixa, Consolación Muro, accompanied by a dozen users, thanked the Alfàs del Pi City Council for the support it provides to the group of people with mental illness.
This year, the motto proposed by the Spanish Confederation of Mental Health has been ‘Work and mental health, a fundamental link’. During the reading of the manifesto, which was carried out by Gema Corcoles and Mar Sánchez, SASEM de l’Alfàs workers, the importance of promoting a workplace that is respectful of diversity was discussed. “No one should feel like a stranger when it comes to making a mental health problem visible, something completely natural,” they stated. In the manifesto they have demanded a work culture that promotes mental health, with measures that include support systems, flexible work schedules and other mechanisms that affect psychosocial security.
World Mental Health Day has been celebrated every year on October 10 since 1992. It is a day dedicated to promoting education, awareness and raising awareness of mental health.
Both the Councilor for the Presidency, Mayte García, and the Councilor for Health and Social Welfare, Marisa Cortés, have dedicated words of recognition to the good work carried out by AFEM Marina Baixa for more than 25 years, in favor of the defense of human rights. of people with mental health problems, promoting actions aimed at avoiding their social isolation and promoting their autonomy, through orientation and job search programs and offering advice at all times. A work that also includes raising public awareness about mental illnesses, in order to provide information and reduce social stigma.
October 2024: ‘Positive mental health’
Marisa Cortés has highlighted the importance of having SASEM in the municipality, the Care and Monitoring Service for people with Mental Health problems. This year, the Alfàs City Council will develop a series of workshops during the month of October aimed at the recovery and socio-labor insertion of the people with whom SASEM carries out interventions.
Specifically, on October 14, 21 and 28 the activity ‘Employability pill: work and mental health’ will be carried out. As Marisa Cortés explained, “concise and detailed information will be offered through practical resources that will address aspects such as job search or how to face a job interview. In short, actions to develop in an individualized way a socio-labor insertion itinerary.”
In addition, healthy cooking workshops have been scheduled for October 10 and 24, so that SASEM users learn to prepare simple, economical and healthy menus, working on socialization through different culinary experiences.
Finally, on November 5, the ‘We support each other’ activity will take place, with the aim of families improving their knowledge of the mental health network, introducing psycho-educational aspects of mental disorders and providing tools for good coexistence in the family and social group.
AFEM Marina Baixa
Since its foundation in 1997, AFEM Marina Baixa has provided assistance and advice to people with mental health problems in the region and their families. It currently offers psychological, social and therapeutic support services, carries out coordination and referral of cases with social and health services and develops psychosocial rehabilitation programs, home care, work rehabilitation, leisure and free time, information and awareness about mental illnesses and a psychoeducational program for families.
From the moment the disease is diagnosed, a very valuable protocol of actions is put in place for those affected, for whom the information and advice, offered by this type of associations, is of vital importance to redirect the new personal and family situation. The Alfàs del Pi City Council has been collaborating with this association for years, allocating a sum of 8,000 euros so that they can provide their services in the municipality.
World Mental Health Day Manifesto: World Mental Health Day MANIFESTO 2024