“Little Sparrows” – Supporting the inclusion of people with psychotic disorders
Psychotic disorders are treaded mostly in relevant facilities, but when these patients go out of the hospitals, they often face difficulties in adjusting and reintegrating into the community. Myths and prejudices against the mentally ill are deeply rooted, and negative attitudes may be present with the officials’ involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of such persons. This may adversely affect the attainment of certain rights, inadequate treatment and the occurrence of other discriminatory behaviour. The role of NGOs in providing services is important, but limited due to lack of cooperation with experts in the field of mental care, and the activities are often not coordinated, long-term planned and sustainable.
The Croatian Iris network member “Little Sparrows”, offers different support programs for patients and their families to improve their health care and also they are an important link that connects institutional forms of assistance and other mental health informal support programs. The Network funded their project which aimed at reducing the negative attitude towards psychiatric patients in all segments of the society. Throughout the project, members of Little Sparrows organized activities with different government stakeholders in order to exchange their experience and knowledge in this area. They influenced not only the officials, but also wider public with various shows, theatrical performances and media appearances in which patients with different kind of psychiatric disorders had main roles.