Stories from the Centre

The Mental Health Project

In 1996, shortly after the war (1992-1995) the mental health reform was launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina focusing on community-based care as a contrast to the traditional model that was mainly oriented towards hospital treatment of persons with mental disorders.

Although being one of the most vulnerable societies in the region, Bosnia-Herzegovina has made significant progress in the reform of mental health care services by developing a network of over 60 community-based mental health centres at primary healthcare level. The centres are operated by multidisciplinary teams, the members of which are psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and medical technicians, whereas some centres also employ occupational therapists, special education teachers, speech therapists and child psychiatrists.

In order to provide access to improved and better-quality services of mental health care at the community level the Agency for Quality and Accreditation in Healthcare in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AKAZ) has developed accreditation standards for mental health centres and by 2019 accredited 23 centres.

Also, AKAZ published a brochure Stories from the Centre containing reportages from mental health centres across the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the purpose behind publishing and distributing it is to get the anti-stigma message across to as large a public as possible: “The stories come from the mental health centres and they are about patients, but also healthcare workers, affected by processes of social marginalisation. It is our hope that, by publishing and distributing this brochure, we can help spread the anti-stigmatisation message as widely as possible and help put the focus of attention and public interest on people who need mental health support or who work in the area, as that is where it should be,” says Dr Novo, Director of AKAZ and editor of the brochure.

The Mental Health Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina is supported by the Swiss government and implemented by the XY Association, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Republika Srpska.

http://www.akaz.ba/udoc/Stories20from20the20center_Pages.pdf