Wednesday, 24th April 2024
CALVIÀ TRAINS ITS EMPLOYEES IN CARE OF PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
The initiative seeks to strengthen understanding and respect towards these users of public administration and build a more inclusive environment
In an effort to promote greater awareness and understanding of mental health, Calvià Town Hall's Social Welfare Department is organizing 6-hour training sessions aimed at employees who have direct contact with the public. The training, titled "Care for People with Mental Health Difficulties", is based on a model focused on the person's recovery and addressing key aspects to promote understanding and foster an inclusive environment.
The training is given over a full morning and covers fundamental aspects related to mental health, including basic concepts, myths and stigmas, rights of people with a mental health diagnosis, as well as their appropriate treatment. The course, designed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team from the social field of the Gira-Sol Association, offers practical tools that will allow them to more effectively address the needs of people with mental health problems in the work and community environment.
According to the Gira-Sol training area: “It is about the right to receive respectful treatment, free of value judgments. Each of the students has to do a little self-criticism, review their beliefs, their practices on a daily basis, at work, and question themselves.” In addition, information is provided about the resources available in Calvià for those who need specific mental health support.
The training is quite experiential, it offers a space for debate and sharing experiences, from which alternatives are offered when treating people. For example, in the two training sessions given so far, cases of dealing with people with psychotic symptoms, with delusions, have arisen, and in response to this, guidelines have been offered such as not confronting, accompanying the person, putting oneself in their place and look for alternatives, or also divert attention.
This initiative represents one more step by the Calvià Town Hall towards the creation of a more informed and supportive community in the way it serves all types of people. When training employees, such as those in the Youth Department or the janitors of public buildings dependent on the public company Oh! Limpia, seeks not only to foster understanding and empathy, but also to promote a broader and more accessible support network for those living with mental health problems.
The students have been, for the moment, very satisfied with these training days of the Gira-Sol association, as they have been able to learn not to act out of fear and to be able to perceive the discomfort and suffering of the other person. In fact, this training in caring for people with mental health problems is essential to demystify erroneous beliefs that end up leading to more rejection and less social inclusion.
The two training sessions on care for people with mental health problems carried out on 15th March and 19th April have been insufficient to meet all the demands of Calvià's public employees, so more learning sessions will be scheduled to promote positive change in the way mental health is addressed in local government.
