Minorities : Violation of human rights and mental health – Bulgaria (AMSB); Lithuania (LiMSA)

Name of the activity: Minorities : Violation of human rights and mental health

Country/NMO: Bulgaria (AMSB); Lithuania (LiMSA)

Program: Mental Health

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Capacity Building

General description:

In our activity we organized trainings about mental health and violation of human rights . The topics were focused mainly on refugees , the mental illnesses they face and how can that change , and the violation of their basic human rights. Participants were satisfied and mention that they felt more aware about the situation and wanted to search more on their own in ways to contribute for a better outcome .

Focus area:

Communities especially vulnerable to mental health

Problem statement:

Minorities and expecially refugees face most of the time hard life problems which affect their mental health , which is not treated . Furthermore the place and situation they find themeselves are not helping either. Refugee camps sometimes are violating the basic human rights .

Target groups and beneficiaries:

We interacted directly with medical students who were iterested on the topic, wanted to learn more about the problems refugees are facingand also the ways they can help . In the long run we hope to make more projects to help the refugees and the work of NGOs .

Objectives and indicators of success:

• Participants to gain more knowledge on the subject
• Understanding the main mental health issues minorities and refugees are
facing
• Violation of human rights
• Discussing ways to work on the problem
• How can the participants help
• Future projects including action plan

Methodology:

The objectives were achieved with trainings split in two streams , one focusing on mental health and one paralel for human rights . It was understood from the beginning that it had to happen in that way , cause some participants were mainy interested in mental health and some for the human rights part and wanted to learn separate the situation . there were also external speakers who gave their knowledge on refugees and refugee camps and how the situation is .

Plans for evaluation:

The activity was a success cause all participants were satisfied , they were confident and also seeked ways of involvement and ways to help the situations. one of the external speakers was Bulgarian Red Cross who agreed to give the chance to everyone who wanted to help and volunteer to include them to their work . Furthermore we agreed to continue the project and make it even bigger.