Event highlights
19 June 2024
The Mental Health Forum in Warsaw brought together national leadership in health and mental health, along with key stakeholders from other governmental sectors and local authorities, experts, professionals, advocacy groups, and people with lived experience and their family caregivers, with the aim of catalysing engagement of wide stakeholders in mental health and well-being, and reaching a consensus on key priorities for developing and implementing a comprehensive Intersectoral Roadmap for National Mental Health to enable the delivery of the National Mental Health Protection Programme 2023–2030.
Scaling up the transformation of the national mental health system emerged as a common goal, with evident determination from Polish leadership and a critical mass of mental health experts and stakeholders working across all sectors, including health, education, welfare, finance and justice. Participants expressed a desire to ensure that transformation occurs at national, regional and local level.
“The Forum was an opportunity to learn what progress has been made on transforming the mental health-care system towards a community-based model of care, and what areas require further work,” explains Dr Nino Berdzuli, WHO Representative to Poland. “One important aspect discussed at the Forum involved reviewing and revising the model of community-based care to reflect access to comprehensive and well-coordinated health care available to people with mental health problems, and financing models of mental health-care services. It is crucial to include services for children and young people, in addition to pathways of care within health care and across other services, including education and social care. Strengthening capacities and putting forth mechanisms for cross-sector collaboration will not only ensure a smooth transition from child and adolescent services towards adult services, but also address economic determinants of poor mental health and inclusion of youth.”
Community care is being piloted across 50% of the country, which has provided front-line mental health workers with a wealth of experience and expertise in treating mental health issues. A highlight of the Forum was the opportunity to learn from such mental health professionals, along with people with the lived experience of mental health conditions. While much of the country is enthusiastic about embracing change, a full-scale transformation will require engagement from stakeholders who are less eager. The mental health system transformation process will also greatly benefit from active involvement of those with lived experience and their families, who must be at the heart of policy-making.
Transforming traditional psychiatric hospitals into modern mental health trusts will be a key factor in creating a community-based model that delivers a broad range of services. Participants heard the experiences of other European countries in tackling this kind of transformation, as well as successes in other Polish cities. The service transformation will also entail tackling the challenges of forensic psychiatry and delivering a coordinated set of actions that ensure a humane, respectful and recovery-oriented approach, with active engagement of all relevant parties and sectors. Managing the provision of advanced specialist services whilst ensuring the national scale-up of community-based care will require careful consideration and reflection.
Dr Wojciech Konieczny, Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Health, reflected on the value of hearing other countries’ experiences. “The Forum allows for international cooperation, providing a platform to share fascinating research and the experiences of different countries to find solutions that we can implement here in Poland.”
Ensuring that mental health professionals have adequate skills and tools was another area of discussion. Community-based models of care rely on a sufficiently skilled health workforce. Digital solutions and artificial intelligence interventions can assist in this area, but it is crucial to design them to be effective and acceptable in the local context. Care quality must be standardized through clinical guidelines and standards of care, with effective implementation of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The development of such indicators could constitute a basis for supplementing financial mechanisms with elements of payment for results.
Participants discussed the importance of developing procedures and mechanisms for internal and intersectoral coordination in mental health care, along with the allocation of resources and proposals for financing paths. This kind of intersectoral cooperation is critical for the success of the mental health system transformation, as it ensures that different sectors and stakeholders contribute to the overall mental health ecosystem. Schools were mentioned as a particular case – embedding mental health promotion, building resilience for good mental health and prevention of mental health problems must occur in close collaboration with mental health and other services in the local mental health ecosystem.
In the immediate future, priority will be given to strengthening legal, clinical and financial capacities and mechanisms to engage between the health sector and other relevant sectors to support intersectoral governance and practice. This cooperation will encompass cross-sectoral actions to address the social and economic determinants of poor mental health and mental health inequities, including youth mental health and inclusion.
Other areas of discussion at the Forum are summarized below.
- Polish media and culture were recognized as key agents in promoting good mental health, tackling stigma, and shaping public awareness and understanding of mental health in Poland. Recommendations to improve this understanding included building the capacity of the media to report on mental health issues, and engaging with influencers and social media platforms to define strategies that promote mental health and tackle stigma.
- Commitment to continuing the mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for Ukrainian refugees and enhancing access to MHPSS services for children was emphasized at the Forum, focusing on a comprehensive approach that includes prevention, promotion, specialized services, and continued support.
The United States Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration is a key funder of WHO mental health work in Poland. His Excellency Mark Brzezinski, Ambassador of the United States to Poland, addressed the Forum, recognizing that mental health issues are a challenge both in Poland and the USA. He also emphasized his country’s commitment to addressing this challenge in both the Polish and Ukrainian populations. “Poland’s embrace of the Ukrainian refugee demographic in Poland is an important and powerful example of a positive news story. But if there are still people suffering in silence in 2024, that is not ok. We care because we want the Ukrainians living in Poland to thrive.”
Participants recognized the importance and urgency of tackling the mental health challenges and delivering on the key priorities. A plan was formulated to draft the comprehensive Intersectoral Roadmap for National Mental Health (January 2025 to December 2027), under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and with the technical support and coordination of WHO. Intersectoral partners and key stakeholders will be actively engaged in the preparation of the Roadmap.
The Roadmap will define the ways to deliver on the key priorities agreed at the Forum, with targets, milestones and timelines; the resources needed to implement these activities; the accountability mechanisms and allocation of responsibility; and the monitoring mechanisms.
Event notice
6 June 2024
The WHO Country Office in Poland is collaborating with the Polish Ministry of Health to host a forum on the issue of mental health and well-being in Poland and discuss how different stakeholders can reach consensus on developing and implementing a comprehensive Intersectoral Roadmap for National Mental Health.
The forum will bring together the national leadership in health and mental health along with key stakeholders from other governmental sectors, experts, professionals and advocacy groups, as well as people with lived experience of mental disorders and their family caregivers.
In 2018, Poland embarked on a transformative mental health reform, introducing the pilot project for Community Mental Health Centres to help transition from inpatient to community-based care, covering 54% of the adult population with coordinated services. The National Mental Health Protection Programme (2023–2030) aims at comprehensive care for individuals with mental disorders, combating stigma and fostering inclusivity through awareness campaigns.
Each sector in Poland has developed dialogue, policies and evidence that enable them to address mental health. There is scope to build on existing activities, enable greater cross-sectoral collaboration, and establish clear mandates, accountability and resourcing. The forum is intended to help develop a common understanding of mental health and well-being challenges across stakeholders and sectors, and co-produce policy responses.
The objectives of the Forum will be:
- to bring together and catalyse the engagement of a wide range of multisectoral stakeholders in mental health to encourage their active participation and long-term commitment to implementing the transformation of the mental health system;
- to facilitate a pivotal revitalization of the Polish Mental Health Coalition to promote an intersectoral approach to addressing mental health challenges;
- to discuss options for intersectoral governance models for mental health;
- to address key national priorities for mental health, including child and youth mental health and well-being and the transition towards community-based mental health care; and
- to discuss and reach agreement on the draft Consensus Statement for the development of a comprehensive Intersectoral Roadmap for National Mental Health.