Dr. Irena Popovic, Dr. Vojin Popovic presentation at the III SEE MH Policy Forum in Sofia - Bulgaria 2006
Community Mental Health Center “Mediana” (CHMC) is the pilot project in Serbia, created within the Stability Pact Project of the European Union. It started with the work from June 2005, and already became one of the main part in regional network of Community Mental Health Services.
CHMC is a part of the Special psychiatric hospital in Gornja Toponica near Nis, Serbia. As the pilot project in our country and town of Nis, it covers the largest towns’ community called Mediana, with about 200.000 citizens in it. It is located in the town, attended to be closer to the users. The work is organized within three multidisciplinary teams. The doctors (psychiatrists) in the teams are also working in the hospital, providing continuity of inpatient-outpatient mental health care.
The organization of CHMC is divided on several parts: Ambulatory service, Daily hospital, Home visit service, Psychotherapy service, Psychosocial rehabilitation service. Also, the important thing in our work is intersectorial collaboration with Center for social work, Public health center, and other psychiatric institutions.
Almost one–year experience in working encourage us to work further more in developing one more center in second community of Nis. We found out significant differences in out patient care, comparing with the previous work, new quality of relationship between patient and the therapist, so we see in the future this kind of work as the only way of resocialisation of the psychiatric patients.
