Mental Health
Program Coordinator: Saif Ali
Contact us: [email protected]
Find out more
Focus Areas
Mental Health promotion and prevention
Never Alone
Many medical students are so focused on their studies that they tend to forget to take care of themselves. Our goal with Never Alone is to show students that there are resources available to them in times of need, and simple ways they can improve with wellbeing. At the same time, as we provide these events and activities we also bring forward the topic of mental health and fight the stigma associated with it, especially as physicians in training.
Every semester we have 1 week dedicated to mental health awareness week. This week we have events for each day which cover different aspects of mental health awareness. Events to de-stress: Yoga, Puppy Therapy, etc. Events for campaigning: Scrub Away Stigma day with photo. Events to reach out to students and talk: Bake Sale with pamphlets on mental health resources. Informative and strength building: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Workshop.
Mental Health advocacy and public awareness
Stigmatization Related to Mental Disorders
1. Medical students are informed about general facts for mental health and stigmatization related to mental disorders.Indicator of success: Medical students conducting the surveys are able to explain about mental health and stigmatization to people who are filling in the surveys.
2. Society is informed about general facts for mental health and stigmatization related to mental disorders.Indicator of success: People filling in the surveys understand the general concept and are able to interpret and give meaningful input to the questions of the survey.
3. Obtaining information about experiences of people with mental disorders about stigmatization to be used to improve the quality of services and public attitude towards them.Indicator of success 1: Patients at the psychiatric clinics are given proper information about the use of survey, helped for any questions came up while filling in the survey and gave meaningful input to be interpreted.Indicator of success 2: Meaningful amount of surveys, for example at least 40 per a clinic which has around 800-2000 admitted patients per year, which will be assigned by their professor, are collected.
4. Comparison of society opinion and people with mental disorders about stigmatization.Indicator of success: Same amounts of surveys for patient and healthy individuals are collected by each local committee according to what their professors assigned.
5. Presentation of our project to the governmental delegation of the Republic of Bulgaria to the WHA to pressure on the decision makers to adapt policies accordingly.Indicator of success: We could contact them at the WHA, presented our work and made calls.
Integration of mental health within primary health care
Course of medical psychoanalysis
doctors and medical students need to understand the human psyche, the factors that influence it and how psychotherapy acts, so that when they attend a psychiatric patient, they perform an integral psychopharmacological approach.
1. Demonstrate the science of applied psychoanalysis in the day-to-day medical psychiatrist;
2. Improve understanding of psychiatric disorders and how they affect the patient’s daily life through behavior;
3. To understand the mechanisms used by psychoanalysts for the treatment of mental disorders in order to improve the connection between psychiatric and psychological therapy;
4. Optimize understanding of how psychiatric disorders affect patients’ behavior and can affect their personal lives;
Self-knowledge in order to improve the psychological structure of the medical student, avoiding problems such as depression and suicide;
Dangers of substance abuse
PalSpain – IFMSA Spain
None enrolled yet but an example can be a seminar arranged for teachers and parents on the children vulnerable to substance abuse and the harmful effects it can have on their future lives.
Program Proposal
To find our more about the current Program, check the Program Proposal document.
Activities for Mental Health Program
Below you may find all the most recent activities that were recognized as part of the Mental Health Program
If you are interested to join IFMSA Program with your activity and have it shown in the Database please visit the IFMSA Programs part of the website and/or contact the program team at [email protected].
Nr | Program | Enrollment year | Activity | Category | Region | NMO | Standing Committee | Type |