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District Psychiatric centrum in Bærum DPC, Norway

District Psychiatric centrum in Bærum DPC, Norway

Bærum DPC provides specialist health services within mental health and interdisciplinary specialised substance abuse treatment.  We offer evaluation and treatment of mental illness and/or addiction problems to adults.

After the change of  from September 1, 2013, Bærum DPC consists of four sections .

• The outpatient clinic for substance abuse and dependence

• Psychiatric Outpatient clinic

• Psychiatric Rehabilitation Outpatient Clinic                

• The inpatient section, Dr. Høstsvei                                                         

Psychiatric emergency teams for Asker and Bærum were divided between Asker DPC and BDPC. BDPC added an emergency function to the inpatient section, Dr. Høstsvei, while ADPC has the emergency function between the outpatient and inpatient section, Sikta.

Outpatient clinic for substance abuse and dependence (PRA)

The outpatient clinic for substance abuse and addiction at Bærum DPC offers interdisciplinary specialised substance abuse treatment to the people in Asker and Bærum. The aim of the work with addicts and their families is to provide a specialised treatment service that improves the health and quality of life of those who are in need of drug-related treatment.

Psychiatric outpatient clinic

Psychiatric outpatient clinic (POC) Bærum was established as a separate outpatient clinic in 1990, and is one of five sections under Bærum DPS. The outpatient clinic is centrally located in Sandvika. The outpatient clinic provides predominantly individualised treatment, focusing on effective clarification and understanding of the problem, then considers useful measures or treatment services.

Psychiatric rehabilitation outpatient clinic (Rehab)

Adults over 18 years with serious mental illness, who have been through the first-time assessment and who have undergone the first phase of treatment. Patients who have significant disabilities and require coordinated follow up from mental health care and municipal health services. This includes patients with significant disability as a result of severe mental illness combined with substance abuse.

Inpatient Section, Dr. Høsts

The inpatient section, Dr. Høstsvei is an open general psychiatric inpatient section connected to Bærum DPC, and located near Bærum hospital. The section has a total of 38 beds distributed between three differentiated units. All admissions take place on a voluntary basis. The section receives referrals from acute psychiatric wards, outpatient clinics and GPs. All elective referrals are assessed via a central Admissions Team located at the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic.

C-Flex team in Bærum

The C-Flex Team in Bærum is a three-year project that started on January 1, 2012. The C-Flex Team is a collaboration project between Bærum municipality and Bærum DPC. Wage costs in the project are financed by the municipality and DPC, respectively, and additionally the project is awarded an annual grant from the Directorate of Health at NOK 800,000 NOK.

Target group

People in Bærum municipality who have severe mental illness and/or serious drug addiction, major functional impairment and a weak or nonexistent connection to the ordinary public services. Diagnosis is not used as the basis of evaluation for admission to the team. Age is insignificant.

People who fall within the criteria could also be characterised as having the following:

• long-term and unstable disease course

• interruptions in treatment relationships

• repeated and crisis-filled admissions

• major limitations in social functioning and lack of social support

• lack of stable living situation

• high risk of negative consequences of relapse

• limited effect of previous treatment

• great need for well-coordinated health and social services to make use of established measures.

Objectives

That people with these types of problems and weak or nonexistent relationship to public treatment services receive a comprehensive and coherent offering of treatment and services in the ordinary public treatment services in the municipality within the municipal specialist health services.

Outcome objectives

• have access to and can utilise/make use of the established municipal services and specialist health service

• remains in treatment contact

• have safe and stable housing

• have an individual plan

• have reduced the extent of emergency admissions/hospitalisations

• are engaged in personalised work or activity

• have increased their social support

• are better integrated into their communities

Working methods

The C-Flex team's working methods are developed based on national guidelines and are rooted in national technical guideline for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of individuals with concurrent substance use disorder and mental illness - DD disorders. Compound services - concomitant treatment.

• Low threshold to get access to the team. Everyone, including users, relatives and staff can contact the team to present the situation they want to collaborate over. The request is then reviewed by the C-Flex Team's intake team for further action. The intake team consists of the manager of the team, a municipal employee and the head physician of the team.

• user interaction as a fundamental principle

• outreach and ongoing approach

• practice independent of location, treatment and follow-up occur where the patient is

• mapping, evaluation of the patient's entire life situation

• focus on living situation, living conditions, work and network

• personalised services in the regular public treatment services. Build a stable foundation in the ordinary public treatment services

• psychiatric treatment/drug treatment according to individual needs.

Working Methods

The C-Flex team has three levels/working methods that are offered to patients and collaborative partners:

1. The patients is brought into the team. Those who receive this offer have little or no connection to the ordinary public treatment services. They are in need of help, but do not fit in anywhere. These are people who often feel that they "fall between the cracks", or that they fail to accept the help offered to them.

2. Shoulder-to-shoulder. This term describes a working method in which the Collaboration Team enhances the services that are already in the picture. The patient is not discharged from mainstream services and transferred to the C-Flex Team, but the team adds expertise and is actively involved in working with the patient. 3

3. Guidance about the public treatment services. The C-Flex team offers both ad hoc - guidance as needed around individual patients, and structured and planned guidance in the ordinary services. The C-Flex team has permanent guidance with municipal drug services, outpatient care and the night shelter.

Organisation and Staffing

The C-Flex team is interdisciplinary and interdepartmental and consists of staff from the regular public treatment services in Bærum. Our employees come from municipal substance abuse and mental health services, from the housing office and the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, from the Psychiatric Youth Team (PYT) and specialist health service’s substance abuse and mental health services. Service practitioners are employed at their regular place of work, but have agreed to serve on the Collaboration Team at a certain percentage at a given time.

In October 2013, we hired a staff member with user experience to a 40% contract position. This position has the title of experience consultant and is being funded by project funds.

http://www.vestreviken.no

 

Public service company Mana, o.p.s.

Mana helps the mentally ill people also in the field

The public service company Mana in Olomouc has been providing services and helping people with serious mental illnesses (psychoses) since 2007. Last spring, the company expanded its services and at present it offers psychosocial rehabilitation and psychosocial field services. “The centre of psychosocial rehabilitation focuses on the offer of daily activities; while performing community social work we put emphasis particularly on people-to-people contacts, group activities and a respectful and partnership attitude. The clients who use our services are able to act as a self-help group of people and support each other in relapse prevention by sharing their life stories, giving genuine encouragement and expressing understanding. Together they create a good atmosphere in the community,” describes Olga Svrčková, one of the workers providing field services.  
“We change the program of activities regularly depending on the demand of the clients. The basic set of activities stays the same, i.e. practicing social and other skills that are essential in everyday life, such as cooking, playing parlour games, included are also visits to sports and cultural events, as for example bowling, pétanque, visits to exhibitions and local events. We are happy to be able to cooperate with volunteers who participate in the program - they are helping out with arts activities, English lessons, or drama therapy. Those interested can ask for individual psychological consultations, attend regular moderated meetings for family members, other lectures or educational programs that we offer.”  
Psychosocial field services complement an outpatient direct care and can better solve adverse life situations of the client directly in their own social environment. “Such services were missing in the Olomouc Region up to now. Their nature corresponds to a modern approach to care for mentally ill people and are in compliance with the mental health care reform,” explains Olga Svrčková.
The worker’s role is to be a cooperating professional who accompanies the client side by side and helps them to find their way in the system of services, some of which they provide themselves. “Some of the activities offered are accompanied visits to a psychiatrist or other physicians, both acute and scheduled, to a psychologist or other specialists, visits during the time of hospitalisation, assistance at the time of discharge, communication with attending physicians during the time of hospitalisation, communication with the family members, help for overcoming family and partnership crises, cooperation with the employer, the caretaker, with authorities (Regional Social Security Administration, job centre, insolvency administrator, etc.). In addition to that we also offer help finding suitable housing or job, and in general we assist with provision of other social or public services.” 
The services are provided free of charge and also anonymously, if requested. The company’s seat is at Dolní náměstí 51, in the historical centre of Olomouc. Contacts are: Mgr. Martina Nedělníková – the Centre of Psychosocial Services, Tel. No.: 774 403 431, email: nedelnikova@manaol.cz, Olga Svrčková, DiS. – Psychosocial field services, Tel. No.: 773 877 487, email: svrckova@manaol.cz, Bc. Štefan Berec, Head of Services, berec@manaol.cz. The company participates in projects funded by the European Funds and Norway Grants and is involved in the activities organised by the municipal working group that aims to improve conditions of employment for the people with changed working ability. For more information visit www.manaol.cz or Facebook page of Mana. 

 

Charity Olomouc

The Centre of St. Vincent for mentally disabled people

The Centre of St. Vincent for mentally disabled people operated by Charity in Olomouc focuses on providing help to people with psychotic and affective disorders. Its main aim is to improve self-sufficiency of the people with mental illness and help them to achieve self-fulfilment in the society.

The Centre provides three kinds of social services:

The House at St. Vincent is a non-residential facility providing socially activating services. It aims to create a safe environment in which group activities based on the needs of the clients contributing to establishing friendly relationships, self-fulfilment and to a greater integration into the society could take place. Some of the regular group activities are: pottery and art classes, cooking courses, language courses of English and German, discussions, trips, etc.

A barrier-free training café is a social service focused on practicing social and working skills and abilities. Developing working skills includes practicing activities performed while serving guests of the café. Training of the activities (preparation of drinks, serving, communication) is provided in the café in the morning with no guests present. The skills are then practiced in the afternoon during regular opening hours of the place.

Support of independent living is a field service that offers the clients help with housekeeping in their own homes (doing shopping, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, etc.). The workers help the clients with planning a household budget, accompany them during visits to authorities or to the doctor. The clients also have the possibility to apply for accommodation. The facility has a capacity of 8 beds.

For more information about the Centre of St. Vincent and its services visit the website: http://www.olomouc.charita.cz/sluzby-charity-olomouc/lide-s-dusevnim-onemocnenim/ or call the social worker Martina Mülllerová, Tel. No.: 736 489 376.

 

Civic Association Kolumbus

KOLUMBUS helps to improve the quality of life of the mentally ill

Everyone should be able to enjoy activities for mental well-being and to get some rest at least for a short while every day, and to learn how to handle stress and deal with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It is true that mental health and physical fitness are equally important, which many people don’t realize. To improve the quality of life of the mentally ill and to protect their rights is the aim of the civic association KOLUMBUS that was founded in the Czech Republic in 2001. “We associate the users of psychiatric care, both those who we visit in psychiatric hospitals and those who are provided with out-patient care and even those who completed their treatments. We strive to achieve social justice for such users, to improve care in psychiatric hospitals, to develop community care and services for the mentally ill people, and we are involved in the preparations of the new reform of the Czech psychiatry,” explains Tomáš Tylich, the head of the association branch office in Olomouc, and continues: “We offer counselling in many fields, such as law, employment, social services as well as religion. If we are not able to provide help ourselves, we are able to arrange for such help.” Apart from counselling, the members of the KOLUMBUS association hold regular meetings, they organise rehabilitation stays, training course as well as therapies, cultural and social events. They attend established events focused on mental health, for example “Léčebenské slavnosti” organised by the psychiatric hospital in Šternberk or “Mezi ploty” theatre festival held on the grounds of the mental health hospital in the Bohnice district of Prague 8. The association cooperates with the Regional Council for the Disabled People as well as with other organisations within the region and the whole country. It provides the services completely free of charge and anonymously. Contacts and more information: Tomáš Tylich, Tel. No.: 774 279 357, email: tylich.tom@seznam.czor on the website www.os-kolumbus.org