We interviewed the coordinators of the Conference “Challenges in psychosocial rehabilitation: migratory grief and mental health”

On March 12th, at 9:00 am, the Gonzalo Casas Pessino Cultural Diffusion Center will hold the Conference titled “Challenges in psychosocial rehabilitation : Migratory grief and mental health”, organized by Soledad Pollos Amores who is a social worker at the Center for Psychosocial Rehabilitation of Martínez Campos and Teresa Vargas Martín, psychologist of the Center for Psychosocial Rehabilitation Puente Vallecas belonging to the Institute of Social Work and Social Services (INTRESS) .

During the day we will try to determine what the migratory duel is and how it affects psychosocial work, what problems are encountered in the processes of social intervention, as well as the profile of people who arrive at the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Centers of the network of care for people with serious illness in the Community of Madrid.

How did you learn about the work of the Canis Majoris Foundation?

Several years ago, a group of people with mental health problems who met at the Martínez Campos Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center (CPRS) next to the Implícaté (Get involved) platform, wanted to invite a professional who could tell them how the psychiatric reform was carried out in Madrid and, for us, there could be no one better than Dr. Valentín Corces Pando to explain that stage of psychiatric care in the Community of Madrid. Dr. Corces Pando gladly accepted the invitation to attend the meeting and wanted to make us part of a project he had been involved in and was starting at that time: the Canis Majoris Foundation and his Animal Assisted Therapy project. So, really, we can say that we have joyfully experienced the development of the Foundation since its inception  and we are very  happy to find new ways of collaborating with them.

How do you view our activities?

We believe that the Foundation is making an interesting effort to deploy its actions to places where the public space does not reach, although always linked to it. We believe that they are very innovative when focusing on problems or issues of interest groups that do not always receive much attention such as: transsexuality, bullying, parenting, sustainability … with a clear vocation to finding solutions and not to bask in the dynamics of complaints. We really like the spirit of promoting knowledge and supporting art projects for those artists who would otherwise would not be able to find a place within the usual artistic circuits.

With the Foundation and, above all, with the Elena Pessino Gómez del Campo Neuroscience Laboratory (NEPGC Laboratory), we have learned what epigenetics is and the importance of research in order to gain further knowledge of what happens in our brain when we say we hear voices or when we believe someone wants to harm us.

How did the idea of ​​organizing this day arise?

We have noticed for some time how in some rehabilitation resources of the Community of Madrid, the referrals of people from other countries are increasing and we are seeing how the intervention processes that we were developing in our centers do not adapt well to the needs of these people because they often abandon the intervention programs. We have carried out two small studies on this topic and the social care network for people with serious mental disorders of the Community of Madrid, in which our centers are circumscribed, has conducted a comprehensive study on this matter. Although we are talking more about the mental health problems that may appear during the entire migratory journey, we thought it necessary to make a day entirely dedicated to psychosocial rehabilitation, that is, to the situations of people who have already settled in our community and who have begun to travel the sanitary circuit until they reach a job as specialized as ours.

What will the day provide for the participants?

Firstly, a meeting place for professionals who are revising our work processes with this group. A space for debate and reflection too. Secondly, we would like to provide some answers about what elements can be key to achieving a good therapeutic link with a person with whom we only share our humanity and also what types of interventions have been more useful and viable.

Finally,  we would like to be able to listen directly to the voice of the people who decided to emigrate and who have encountered difficulties of all kinds on their way, to listen to their needs and to be able to improve the care provided for these pepole from the area of ​​psychosocial rehabilitation.

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