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Newsletter Issue No. 2
05/10/2007 - Submitted by: Tilia Bousios
Publisher: Managing Editor, Richard Wynne, Work Research Centre.
Distribution Date: 05/10/2007
The New ProMenPol Website is Now Available
The new improved ProMenPol website www.mentalhealthpromotion.net is now up and running. The new website aims to keep users updated with the latest developments within the ProMenPol Project in addition to latest news and publications in the area of Mental Health Promotion.
The Membership Service is a free service that enables Members to upload documents, projects, links and announcements on to various parts of the ProMenPol website in addition to receiving the PROMENPOL Newsletter. Members can upload their documents or announcements in the following areas of the site:
- Projects (under the Resource Tab);
- Links (under the Resource Tab);
- Policy Documents (under the Resource Tab);
- Bibliography (under the Resource Tab) ; and
- Events
New additions to the website such as the ProMenPol Database and the Discussion Forums will gradually appear on the website in the next few months.
We look forward therefore to all ProMenPol Members posting information to the new website.
The ProMenPol E-Brochure is Now Available in Italian
For all our Italian Colleagues the Italian Version of the ProMenPol Brochure is now available. You can download this e-brochure here. A French Version of the e-Brochure will be available shortly so watch this space.
The ProMenPol Conference
Location: Berlin
Start Date: 11/10/2007
End Date: 12/10/2007
The ProMenPol project (funded by the EU) aims to increase knowledge and improve practice in promoting and protecting mental health in the three settings of schools, workplaces and residential homes for older people. It will do so by making available, in a structured way, information on research, current policies, best practice, prevention measures and impact of measures.
In the first year of this 3 year project, the main aim is to build a theoretical framework which can be used to map and repackage existing research and practice within the field of mental health and wellbeing so that it can be easily accessed and used by practitioners. On this basis existing tools (i.e. measures and actions for managing mental health promotion) will be collected and packaged into three setting-specific toolkits that will be piloted at a later stage.
Ultimately outcomes of ProMenPol can help European and national policy makers to implement a mental health strategy throughout Europe.
ProMenPol will hold the first of its three annual conferences in Berlin on October 11th and 12th 2007. The main issue to be addressed at the ProMenPol conference is to gain agreement between the project actors and outside interested parties on the conceptual framework for the project. It also aims to widely disseminate information concerning positive mental health and to amend it on the basis of the feedback obtained at the conference.
Given the limited number of places available, this conference is an invitation only conference. So far, almost 50 people have registered to attend the conference. Regardless, the results of the conference will be posted on the ProMenPol Website. Click here for more information about the conference.
The ProMenPol Database
A quick search of the Internet using the term ‘mental health promotion tools’ yields literally millions of hits. For the prospective mental health promoter, this volume of tools is impossible to deal with. So, ProMenPol is producing a database of mental health promotion tools that can be used in the settings of schools, workplaces and Older People’s Residences.
ProMenPol has developed a search strategy which allows for the identification of tools that are of high quality and which are backed up by evaluation evidence. These are being collected into the ProMenPol database which will be made available soon on the project website.
In addition, ProMenPol has developed a categorisation of the tools based on the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning and on the main health promotion approaches. This allows for tools to be searched for using a multitude of search terms and the identification of tools according to their full range of uses.
The first version of the database will have in excess of 100 tools from the 3 settings and this will be updated and enlarged as the project proceeds.
For more information follow developments on the website.
The ProMenPol Policy Workshop
Location: Brussels
Start Date: 28/11/2007
ProMenPol will run a half day policy workshop in Brussels at the end of November that is targeted at policy makers at EU and national level. This workshop aims to inform policy makers of the progress of ProMenPol and to explore ways in which the mental health promotion agenda can be pushed forward.
It is intended that the workshop will also act as a forum between policy makers and practitioners so that communications about the differing needs of these two groups can be enhanced.
This forum is the first of three annual forums which will be run during the lifetime of the project. Participation is by invitation only, but if you have specific interest in mental health and wellbeing policy and would like to attend, please contact Katrin Zardo at: zardo.katrin@baua.bund.de
Field Trials in ProMenPol
A major part of the work of ProMenPol is to organise field trials of tools for mental health promotion within the three settings of interest – schools, workplaces and older people’s residences. It is anticipated that professionals operating in these three settings will identify tools of interest to them and that they will implement them within the lifetime of the project and provide feedback to the project and other interested parties on the outcome of their initiatives. Alternatively, ProMenPol is also looking to identify existing initiatives in mental health promotion that are already in train, and which would be willing to provide information to the project on their usage of mental health promotion tools.
The ProMenPol project team will provide a range of supports to the field trials. This will include the development of a field trial protocol, the supply of evaluation instruments and the provision of advice to initiatives with regard to running field trials and reporting on them. In addition, the project will set up three forums on the three settings of interest, where project team members and field trial implementors can communicate.
ProMenPol is running a set of three annual conferences for people who will be involved in the field trials. These will act as an additional support to people who are implementing field trials and will also provide a basis for mutual support. These conferences will also provide the opportunity to people from the field trials to meet with and communicate with professionals from the policy arena, thereby giving them the chance to influence policy makers about what works in the field of mental health promotion. Field trials are due to commence in early 2008. If you are interested in taking part in this work, please contact Gert Lang at: Gert.Lang@w.roteskreuz.at.
About the Project
The project runs from January 2007 - December 2009 and is being led by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health - BAUA.
A complete listing of Project Partners and contact points is presented here.
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