Recent crises have had an impact on the moral of European citizens. So much so, that the recent COVID crisis has resulted in another one: a crisis in mental health. The European Commission published a statement in 2023 on their comprehensive approach to mental health, which should support Member States and stakeholders in their actions to address challenges in this area. The Commission also stressed that mental health should be taken as seriously as physical health, and that psychosocial risks at work need to be combatted. The working world has not been left unaffected by the health ..read more

30 – 31 January 2024 | Residence Palace Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 155, 1040 Brussels, Belgium Find out more. The European Commission published a statement in 2023 on their comprehensive approach to mental health, which should support Member States and stakeholders in their actions to address challenges in this area. The Commission also stressed that mental health should be taken as seriously as physical health, and that psychosocial risks at work need to be combatted. The Belgian Presidency organises its high-level conference on mental health and work. The two-day event will bring together exp ..read more

Mentality – Mental Health Quality Practices is an exciting new EU-funded project. Its main objective is to transfer and disseminate promising practices in mental health care, with a specific focus on children, healthcare and other care workers, people with pre-existing mental health problems and psychosocial disabilities, migrants, and service providers. The project was officially launched in February 2023 when the seven consortium partners convened online to discuss the project’s goals, challenges, and vision. This meeting marked the beginning of a collaborative effor ..read more

Telling the stories behind the developments in health equity, public health & health promotion. Editorial Creating enabling environments: how innovative approaches can help protect the vulnerable Our environments and the places in which we live determine, to a great extend, how healthy we are. In this edition's editorial, EuroHealthNet's Director Caroline Costongs, draws on personal experience from her involvement in a neighbourhood action group. Through this we see there is much more potential for communities and local authorities to act to improve environments so that t ..read more

Using Technical Support Instrument to improve health and health promoting services  (MEMBERS ONLY MEETING)  Online on Friday, 8 September 2023 (10.00 – 13.00 CET)  Register here  Join us for EuroHealthNet’s capacity building for Members to learn about the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) and its application process for the promotion of health and wellbeing. The TSI is an EU tool to help Member States carry out reform projects. It offers expertise and high-level consultancy services to support interventions in key areas including in mental health, economy of wellbeing, pri ..read more

A systems-approach that addresses the structural determinants of mental health, must be put at the forefront and be embedded into an action framework for Member States that extends beyond current, largely fragmented initiatives for mental health. On 7 June 2023, the European Commission launched its first-ever vision for an EU comprehensive approach to mental health. It acknowledges that mental health is an integral part of overall health, with an impact on all aspects of a person’s life, including on family, friends, and co-workers and sets a long-awaited common ground for EU-wide action acr ..read more

There is growing evidence that spending time in natural and semi-natural places such as urban parks, woodlands, mountains, rivers and coastal areas can reduce people’s risk of various health and social issues, including heart disease, diabetes, depression, and loneliness, and build resilience to every-day and longer-term challenges. Many relatively small-scale "nature-based" therapies and interventions have sprung up across the world to support people with these and other conditions to access nature for their health and wellbeing. However, little is known about their overall effectiven ..read more

As the war in Ukraine entered the second year, the EuroHealthNet Partnership and SEEHN, the South Eastern Europe Health Network, express their concern about its pro-longing and lasting impact on mental health of Ukrainian refugees. Peace and security are among the most fundamental determinants of health and wellbeing. The longer the conflict, the greater the impact on mental health. The people of Ukraine continue to struggle, whilst their communities are being destroyed and many face challenges accessing essential services and goods, like medical and public health services, notably mental h ..read more

Members of EuroHealthNet and the  South-eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) met on the 31st of March to mark one year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, to follow up on the discussions held on 12 April 2022 between national health institutes and authorities in the countries neighbouring Ukraine: Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova (Ukraine crisis: supporting neighbouring EU Member States and Moldova in health-related matters, see report).  The purpose of this meeting was to discuss common and specific challenges related to mental health and psychosoci ..read more

EuroHealthNet welcomes the European Commission’s efforts toward the upcoming EU Mental Health approach and this call for evidence. We agree with its rationale, i.e. the need to urgently address the burden of mental health disorders and promote good psychosocial wellbeing, which was already evident and well-documented pre-crises. EuroHealthNet agree with the assumption made that due to the syndemic-pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the climate emergency, and now the rising cost of living crisis (‘the polycrisis’), the figures of 1 in 6 EU citizens, accounting for 4% mortality and 4% GDP are almost ..read more