About us

Our non-government non-profit organization is active from 1995. We have a small project office in Prague and cooperate with Czech and foreign leading experts, included the experts with own experience with recovery from mental illness.

Our mission is to initiate and implement changes leading to the transfer of mental health care into community, to increased respect for people with mental health problems, and to professional as well as accessible mental health care services.

From the begining, Centre for Mental Health Care Development implemented a whole range of projects which leaded to the positive changes in the field of mental health care in Czech republic and abroad. We find often inspiration for implementation of new elements to our system of care and for education in the Netherlands, Finland, United Kingdom, Norway and USA. The effort to bring know-how from abroad to czech environement is present in almost all activities and projects that we realize. 

On a long-term basis we strugle to support the development of new services and initiatives and the improvement of the existing one. From 2013 we are the leader in the support of implementation of peer support workers as fully-fledged membres of profesonal multidisciplinary teams in Czech republic. We also assist to the implementation of peer family workers to the health and social services.

We supported the community social services in good practices by the spreading of Dutch FACT model (Flexible Assertive Community Treatment), very smart and working model which was proved as effective also in Czech conditions. As a follow-up to FACT we support also proved effective way to the employement of people with mental illness called IPS (Individual Placement and Support).

We find inspiration in the concept of Recovery College and found Recovery College in Prague, which offer aside from education also unique space for connecting people with different experience. Workshops are created and leaded by the people with experience of recovery from mental illness and other professionals in the field of mental health care.

We constatnly develop our educational institute, which provide a range of workshops and courses for professionals in mental health care. But we have also experience with education of public services staffers. We are the membre of CARe Network and provide the education in CARe approach. People with experience of recovery from mental illness are embodied in our team of lecturers for several years. We supported also their participation on education of students in several Czech universities.

Centre for Mental Health Care Development is involved in several unique projects of transformation. In the trasformation of the Home on the route, long stay service for people with severe mental illness, we struggle together to develop a new system of support of living in community, not only to move the clients. From 2016 we take part on the transformation of mental health care in Moldova.

Integral part of our acitivities is an effort to spread prejudices and eliminate the discriminations of people with mental illness. We run an on-line counselling service and website stopstigma.cz which is aimed to destigmatize. We make videos and short films and create workbooks and publications.