EUFAMI Publishes Torun Declaration

EUFAMI was founded in 1990 at a congress in De Haan, Belgium where carers from all over Europe shared their experiences of helplessness and frustration when living with severe mental illness. They resolved to work together to help both themselves and the people they cared for.

The 4th Congress of EUFAMI was held in september, in Torun, Poland and a declaration was made at that event:

Torun Declaration, 18th September 2007

All the delegates at the Congress, including representatives from the 50 EUFAMI family associations from across all parts of Europe, call on all European National Governments to fully implement the Helsinki Action Plan which aims to reduce the burden of care on families and recognises that it is a basic human right for all persons to have equal opportunities to experience a good quality of life.

EUFAMI declares that:

In today’s world it is no longer acceptable that people with mental illness cannot fullfil their potential in society because of exclusion from social life due to stigmatisation, lack of employment or occupation, or poor physical health:

• Health care professionals must recognise that while people with mental illness have to be actively involved in their own recovery process, family and friends play an important role too - provided that they are properly informed, empowered and supported both by Mental Health Associations and by professionals.
• Health and social care professionals must attend to physical health needs in addition to prescribing medications and psychological treatments, and we earnestly request them to adapt their training and practices accordingly. Furthermore health and social care professionals should promote a system of quality assurance to secure the important goal of remission and recovery.
• It is essential that there is good communication between people with mental illness, their families and friends and the professionals involved in their care, and that they work in a coordinated way.  

It was once a widely held belief that the earth was the centre of the Universe, until Nicolaus Copernicus, astronomer and mathematician born in Torun declared that on the contrary the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun . In the same way mental health hospitals and other services were once the focus of care for people with mental illness, but now the focus must be firmly on the patient and family.

The decaration is available in a range of languages form the EUFAMI website at http://www.eufami.org/index.pl/en/list/1771