October the 11th, 2023 – Psychological issues plague the country’s population. Thankfully, now psychological help can be sought without the need for a GP’s referral (uputnica). This is all owing to the new Croatian mental health empowerment programme, launched just yesterday.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, yesterday, World Mental Health Day was marked. This day has been celebrated for 70 years all over the world so far, all with the primary aim of raising awareness about mental health.
Chronic depression in Croatia puts the country high on yet another EU list
In terms of the share of people with chronic depression in the total population of EU countries, the Republic of Croatia has been ranked in third place. At the same time, it is in fourteenth place in the EU in terms of the number of psychiatrists per 100,000 inhabitants, as reported by HRT.
Mental health empowerment programmes now launched in Croatian health centres
“Being able to have good mental health is a universal human right. This year, this has been the slogan of World Mental Health Day. It’s also the guiding thread of the new Croatian Mental Health Empowerment Programme, which we’ve now launched at the Zagreb Istok (East) Health Centre and the Split-Dalmatia County Health Centre. The doors of special psychological counselling centres will soon be opened in other parts of Croatia as well. They’ll open in the Health Centres of Osijek-Baranja and Krapina-Zagorje counties, the Zagreb Zapad (West) Health Centre, and in the Čakovec Health Centre. The rest of the country will then follow,” revealed Health Minister Vili Beroš.
The first step is the most difficult
“The first step towards understanding you need help is the hardest one to take. We’ve now made taking that step easier for our patients. They can now receive specialist psychological support without the need for a GP’s referral in their community. Their county’s Health Centre will be the holder of the new Croatian Mental Health Empowerment Programme, and so will future healthcare centres where comprehensive psychological care will be provided to the population. This will also be carried out using mobile teams of professionals,” said the Health Minister.
Yesterday, psychological teams working in the Zagreb Istok Health Centre and the Split-Dalmatia County Health Centre began their work as part of the Croatian Mental Health Empowerment Programme. This move has seen clinical psychologists, psychologists and psychiatric nurses come together to provide mental health care to all those experiencing psychological difficulties.
Reforms in mental health care in Croatia
The new Croatian Mental Health Empowerment Programme is otherwise part of a special reform measure to establish mental health dispensaries at health centres. As stated, mobile teams will also be established with the adoption of the new Public Health Service Network, which is planned to be adopted by the end of the year. The existing interest of the majority of Croatian counties in joining the dispensaries and mobile teams already shows the prerequisites for the successful implementation of the mentioned reform measure.
