OUR mental health of children and adolescents becomes the subject of his interest Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which has been planning a large-scale program to strengthen existing structures and psychiatric clinics in the country since the beginning of 2021. The five-year program, which is part of the “Health Initiative” of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, is being considered by the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Social Affairs and will be implemented after the ratification of the treaties between the Greek state and the Foundation.

“Our goal is to strengthen the juvenile mental health sector and ensure the quality of care provided in public psychiatric institutions and clinics,” Mrs. Elianna Konyali explains “K”., member of the SNA Health Initiative donation department. “We don’t want to replace the state in any way.” As soon as the Greek state ratifies the contract for the implementation of the program, the budget of which is 15 million euros, it undertakes to maintain and continue it after five years. The Mental Health Initiative will be the project administrator.

Reference network

A referral network of mental health professionals will be established in existing child psychiatric clinics in Alexandroupolis, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Athens, Crete and Peloponnese. “The hired scientists will work under the direction of the directors of the clinics,” Ms. Koniali specifies. The members of the network will undertake the further training of scientists and the transfer of successful psychotherapy methods from abroad that can be effective in a realistic time horizon; the goal is to be able to provide psychotherapy within the NHS.

“We are developing the program with the New York Child Mind Institute, which has done a wonderful job with school communities in New York,” she explains, and explains that “among other things, they have developed information tools that are structured in such a way that they are accessible to parents, children and teachers. The group, realizing the importance of reliable information of the population, as well as timely intervention in mental health problems, provided for trainings for teachers of all levels. “At the same time, and in collaboration with child psychiatrists and child psychologists who are called to do business in remote areas, we intend to technologically develop telepsychiatry,” he adds, “and, of course, the digitization of the tools that are already being used.” Research also are part of the network’s activities and are essentially a nationwide survey on the needs of the sector.

Advisory Groups

Since the children are in the centre, they are given the opportunity to voice their demands. “We have introduced adolescent advisory groups in cities where the network will be present, who are already evaluating our proposals and contributing their own needs, such as placing psychologists in schools.” Mr. Giorgos Moschos, former Citizen’s Advocate/Children’s Rights Defender Assistant, is in charge of the groups in question.