Gela, established table on psychiatric patients. “We will give support to families”

The mayor, Lucio Greco, chaired a meeting with the head of the mental health department of the ASP, Massimo Cacciola and with a representation of families of disabled people and psychiatric patients. The implementation of the three-year mental health program is on the table. Present were the municipal councilors for Solidarity, Ugo Costa and for Health, Antonio Pizzardi, the municipal manager Mario Picone, the manager of the Gela mental health centre, Giuseppe Arancio, officials of the ASP and representatives of the families of patients and mentally disabled people. During the meeting, the mayor formally established a permanent table dedicated to the implementation of the sector plan, with the specific intention of supporting people facing the disease and families who daily experience the drama of a loved one affected by a psychiatric pathology .

«These are issues – says the mayor – that touch the heart, families experiencing extreme hardship that goes beyond illness and has health and social implications. I set up the permanent table to create a stable bridge between institutions, ASP and the Municipality, and the people who experience a difficult condition: psychiatric patients and their families”.

Councilor Costa anticipated the imminent implementation of a project, entitled “LiberaMente”, which provides for the establishment of a solidarity center in which psychiatric patients can find the support of expert personnel: psychotherapist, psychologist, educator, entertainer. The procedure is definitive, all that is missing is the assignment of the service to an entity (association, cooperative) with specific skills. The announcement is ready. All that remains is the start of the selection procedure through the electronic platform of the public administration market.

«It will be a first concrete help – concludes the mayor – to families and disabled people to go beyond drugs and therapy. In the wake of policies that must also provide forms of social support and, where possible, also the employment of the person suffering from mental distress”.