Theme: Mental Health: A different and better system with communities in control 

A positive language of mental health and wellbeing base on hope, compassion and the belief that people can overcome challenges;

Increasing the capacity of communities to ‘own’ responsibility for their own and each other’s mental health;

Promoting the identity of people with mental health issues as citizens leading lives within communities (not patients) and their ability to define what a good life looks like and how to achieve it;

Developing new ways of working with people founded on understanding distress as a consequence of things that happen to people;

This Congress will be an opportunity to learn best practices and approaches from around the world;

At the Congress we will be learning from the experiences of practitioners, experts by experience and family members.

The concept of the recovery approach for service users is founded in human values and their application by the service user, professionals and the service itself. Its objective is to achieve health and wellbeing regardless of the degree of disability or distress of the individual.

It requires a paradigm shift in thinking from pathology and illness to self determination, life stories, human strengths, hopes and dreams, peer support and control by the user with support from professionals as partners, mentors and advocates.

TheIt should be rooted in cultural, social, religious and ethnic diversity that gives meaning to the persons identity, belief and circumstance.

To promote the recovery approach staff should reevaluate their role in the treatment process to one of negotiation, partnership and trial and error.

Service organisations need to allow and support staff in practicing in this way by adopting a culture of creativity, innovation, openness, encouragement for diversity and recognition for good practice.

What is recovery?
For many people, the concept of recovery is about staying in control of their life despite experiencing a mental health problem. Professionals in the mental health sector often refer to the ‘recovery model’ to describe this way of thinking.
Putting recovery into action means focusing care on supporting recovery and building the resilience of people with mental health problems, not just on treating or managing their symptoms.

There is no single definition of the concept of recovery for people with mental health problems, but the guiding principle is hope – the belief that it is possible for someone to regain a meaningful life, despite serious mental illness. Recovery is often referred to as a process, outlook, vision, conceptual framework or guiding principle.

The recovery process:

provides a holistic view of mental illness that focuses on the person, not just their symptoms
believes recovery from severe mental illness is possible
is a journey rather than a destination
does not necessarily mean getting back to where you were before
happens in 'fits and starts' and, like life, has many ups and downs
calls for optimism and commitment from all concerned
is profoundly influenced by people’s expectations and attitudes
requires a well organised system of support from family, friends or professionals
requires services to embrace new and innovative ways of working.
The recovery model aims to help people with mental health problems to look beyond mere survival and existence. It encourages them to move forward, set new goals and do things and develop relationships that give their lives meaning.

Recovery emphasises that, while people may not have full control over their symptoms, they can have full control over their lives. Recovery is not about 'getting rid' of problems. It is about seeing beyond a person’s mental health problems, recognising and fostering their abilities, interests and dreams. Mental illness and social attitudes to mental illness often impose limits on people experiencing ill health. health professionals, friends and families can be overly protective or pessimistic about what someone with a mental health problem will be able to achieve. Recovery is about looking beyond those limits to help people achieve their own goals and aspirations.

Recovery can be a voyage of self-discovery and personal growth. Experiences of mental illness can provide opportunities for change, reflection and discovery of new values, skills and interests.
What supports recovery?

Research has found that important factors on the road to recovery include:

good relationships
financial security
satisfying work
personal growth
the right living environment
developing one’s own cultural or spiritual perspectives
developing resilience to possible adversity or stress in the future.
Further factors highlighted by people as supporting them on their recovery journey include:

being believed in
being listened to and understood
getting explanations for problems or experiences
having the opportunity to temporarily resign responsibility during periods of crisis.
In addition, it is important that anyone who is supporting someone during the recovery process encourages them to develop their skills and supports them to achieve their goals.

Guidelines for Submission of Papers 

Small Groups and Workshops with Themes: Opportunity for participants to explore the themes of the congress and to present their work and research on new approaches. (10 minute presentations X 4 and 20 minutes discussion).

 
STANDARDS:

Each participant may submit up to 1 (work), but may be co-authored in other works.

The deadline for submission of papers is 05/04/2021;

The opinion will be sent until 25/04/2021, in the email of the author who sent the work.

The file (s) with the summary (s) and identification of authorship must be sent. Maximum number of 5 authors.

The objective is to discuss relevant topics in the field of mental health and good practices in mental health in order to raise debates and stimulate the exchange of experiences among participants.

The format of the works (summary) should be as follows:
Abstract: the abstract must consist of a single paragraph of text.
Abstract formatting: length: between 1500 to 2,500 characters (including spaces between words). The title does not count in the number of characters.

Line spacing: 1; source: Times New Roman, 12 points; A4 page size; margins: top and left with 3 cm and bottom and right with 2 cm. Key words: maximum of three; title of the work: capital letters, centralized and bold; name of the author (s): uppercase / lowercase letters, aligned to the right and bold (below the title).

Formats: WORD and PDF.

Online chat has the following characteristics:

1- The objective is to discuss relevant topics in the field of Mental Health in order to raise debates and stimulate the exchange of experiences;
2. The Facilitator will control the exposure time and help with the conversation;
4. The presenter can use slides;
5. The approved papers will have their abstracts published in the electronic annals of the Congress;
6. We will create rooms online through Zoom. With 10 days to go before the event, we will send you the link to the room and the information for access;
7. The time to expose the report is 10 minutes. At the end of the speech, there will be time for conversation between the participants.

Approved papers will be published in the Congress Proceedings. All authors and co-authors with approved papers receive the presentation certificate. For the work to be published in the annals and receive the certificate, at least one author must be registered at the congress.


STEPS FOR SUBMISSION

To submit the paper, you must send the abstract to the email: enviotrabalhoscenat@gmail.com