Read the press release in PDF here
With Joint Forces against Depression and Suicidal Behaviour
EU co-funded “EAAD-BEST” project comes to an end and thinks ahead
26/02/2024 | This event is open to all professional stakeholders interested in promoting or implementing community-based interventions targeting depression and suicide prevention. The attendance is free of charge.
EAAD-Best Final Event
Date: 4th March 2024
Location: Brussels, SQUARE convention centre, 2 rue Ravenstein, 1000
The purpose of the EAAD-Best Final Event is to share lessons learnt from three years of successful implementation of community-based interventions and to encourage others in joining or starting new regional activities. The meeting’s agenda includes workshops to discuss concrete steps on how to implement the 4-level intervention at a regional level and how to scale it up to a nationwide network. The event is open to all audiences: civil society, like-minded research consortia, NGOs, associations, policymakers, mental health professionals, patients’ organisations, etc.
The aim of the EAAD-Best project is to improve care for patients with depression and to prevent suicidal behaviour in Europe. During the three-year project period, a community-based intervention, the 4-level approach, has been established in 16 new regions across countries. Overall, more than 100 training sessions for health care professionals and community facilitators have been conducted with over 4000 attendees. About 800 new guides for the iFightDepression® tool, a self-management online tool for people with milder forms of depression, were trained and certified, and more than 750 new users started working with the tool.
More than 300 million people are suffering from depression worldwide1, which reduces their life expectancy by approximately 10 years. Each year more than 700,000 people take their own life worldwide2 and the number of attempted suicides is estimated to be about 20 times higher. Depression and, to a lesser degree, other mental disorders are the main cause of
suicidal behaviour3.
Agenda and Registration
The agenda of the event and the registration form can be found on the project’s website: https://eaad-best.eu/final-event/
Press contact / Offer for interviews
The members of the EAAD-Best consortium are available for giving interviews in advance of the event. Possible interview partners are:
– Prof. Ulrich Hegerl, President of EAAD, German psychiatrist and chairman of the German Depression Foundation, Senckenberg Distinguished Professorship at Goethe University
– Prof. Chantal van Audenhove, Principal Investigator at LUCAS KU Leuven (Center for Healthcare Research and Consulting)
– Piotr Toczynski, Principal Investigator at Maria Grzegorzewska University
– Rainer Mere, Project Manager at the Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute
Please contact the EAAD coordination centre to arrange an online call: contact@eaad.net
