We will soon conclude the first year of the project Education for Improving the Human Rights of People with Mental Health Issues which aimed to strengthen a supportive and safe environment and to prevent and manage conflict in psychiatric care units.Since January 2022, staff at six inpatient psychiatric facilities have been receiving training and focusing on building a safe environment and preventing conflict on their wards. In addition to an inspiring internship in the facilities of the Norwegian project partner, they have received training in the Safewards model and de-escalation techniques under the guidance of foreign experts, and education in the topics of human rights in psychiatric care and creating a safe and supportive environment in psychiatric care.

In the next phases of the project, staff will use the knowledge and skills acquired to implement changes in the departments. At the same time, based on the uniform methodology for recording restraints that has been developed, the departments involved are keeping statistics to show whether the changes introduced will contribute to a further trend of reducing restraint use.

Project is implemented in cooperation with the University Hospitals Ostrava and Plzeň, the Psychiatric Hospitals Bohnice, Horní Beřkovice and Jihlava and the Central Military Hospital in Prague. The project partner is the University of South-Eastern Norway.

You will find more inspiration and information about project on the website Safety in psychiatry: Inspiration for change or in the article in WAPR Bulletin from June 2022.

Suppported by EEA and Norway Grants.