“Franco Basaglia” Psychosocial Intervention Day Center is a community mental health unit for adult citizens of the 5th Mental Health District (Municipalities of Amaroussion, Neo Irakleio, Dionysos, Kifissia, Pefki-Lykovrisi, Oropos, Marathonas, Acharnes).

Respecting the experiences, needs and rights of its beneficiaries is at the heart of its operation. 

“Franco Basaglia” Day Center interdisciplinary team consists of experienced, highly trained professional psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, and a psychiatric nurse, working together towards a holistic and personalized approach to mental health issues, on a personal, family, collective, and social level.

“Franco Basaglia” Day Center is working closely with mental health institutions, municipal services, associations of mental health service users and their families, volunteers, and other community entities. 

 

The services of the Day Center are not addressed to people with substance and/or alcohol dependence, intellectual disabilities, severe autism, or dementia; these people are referred to other institutions providing the appropriate specialized services. 

 

Our unit’s objectives:

• Promoting mental health in the community 
• Providing complete mental health services of high quality
• Advocating for the rights of mental health service users
• Ensuring continuum of care
• Preventing and reducing hospitalizations (particularly involuntary hospitalizations) 
• Achieving psychosocial rehabilitation and professional reintegration 

 

Services, actions and programs

 

Psychiatric diagnosis, assessment, and monitoring

Psychiatric monitoring is provided without duration restrictions. The prescription of psychiatric drugs is provided to people that are insured by the Greek National Organisation for the Provision of Health Services (EOPYY) and to uninsured citizens that qualify as statutory exceptions. 

 

Home-based Intervention Service 

Home-based intervention service is a support service for adults with psychiatric diagnoses and their families. Members of the treatment team visit the beneficiaries at their homes and create a care plan together. The aim of the team is to prevent relapses and hospitalizations, improve the quality of life and empower the beneficiaries. One of the ways of working with the family is the Open Dialogue approach, which is being piloted. Open Dialogue is a philosophical/theoretical and treatment approach to supporting people experiencing mental health difficulties. It was developed in Finland by the team of the psychotherapy professor Jaakko Seikkula and has been applied to severe mental health crises with great success, as long-term research has shown.

The sessions involve as many family members as wish to contribute to the resolution of an existing difficulty, but also friends, if the beneficiaries wish to do so.

All participants are respected and appreciated; a common language is created, and emphasis is placed on bringing out multiple perspectives.

This approach offers the possibility of intervening in a crisis, involving the patients’ social network and family, with the aim of solving problems and initiating dialogue.

 

Short-term Therapy

In short-term therapy, individual sessions (15-52 sessions) are provided, the duration of which depends on the request, the symptoms, and the needs of the patient, as well as on the resources of the service at the given time. This service is staffed by psychologists-psychotherapists of various theoretical approaches (psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, art therapy, etc.) and meets a wide diagnostic spectrum, including emotional, personality, psychotic, neurotic and somatoform disorders.

 

Couple and Family Therapy

Family therapy addresses people’s problems in the context of their relationship with important people in their lives and their social network. It is a well-recognized psychotherapy approach that treats the family as a social unit. The couple alone, the parents or the whole family may be present.

 

Short-Term Group Therapy

Within the group, members interact and are encouraged to share the feelings that arise from their difficulties with immediacy and honesty and, thus, become more aware of how these affect their relationships. They become more self-aware, regarding their internal emotional processes, develop their interpersonal functioning within and outside the group, and have the opportunity to have corrective emotional experiences.

The group consists of 5 to 10 permanent members, who meet weekly. The sessions last for two hours and are completed in 8 months. Joining the group is agreed upon with the group therapist in individual meetings, where ethics, confidentiality, and basic principles of the group’s function are explained, and personal goals are clarified.

 

Multifamily Group Therapy

In multifamily group therapy, participants consist of all members of several families who work together in a group. It draws on the benefits of group therapy, has family therapy systems at its heart, and is based on the interaction between members. That is, professionals and families of various backgrounds form a group and interact, co-creating the therapeutic framework.

 

Art and Music Therapy

Art and music therapy are provided in cooperation with the Art and Psychotherapy Center and the Multidisciplinary Organization for Music Therapy and Research.

 

Psychosocial rehabilitation day program for adults diagnosed with severe mental disorders

The morning group program of the Day Center runs from Monday to Friday, 10:00-15:00, and is addressed to adults with psychosocial challenges, who need to improve both their personal and social skills. It consists of a wide range of therapeutic activities aiming to recovery. It follows a well-structured weekly schedule, and each day is focused on different groups. The objective of the program is to support and empower its beneficiaries on their path to recovery.

 

The objectives-activities of the day program, include:

• Assessing the needs, identifying the interests and talents of the patients, and searching for ways to highlight and develop their skills
• Preventing relapses
• Avoiding and reducing (re)admissions to mental health inpatient units
• Informing, raising awareness, and motivating the local and wider community in order to reduce the social stigma and prejudice
• Informing and supporting families
• Preparing its beneficiaries for professional reintegration
• Enabling members to communicate, express themselves and support each other
• Facilitating active participation in decision-making regarding the received care
• Empowering patients to defend their rights as mental health service users

 

Social Club

The Social Club is a multi-purpose venue for recreational and treatment group meetings. It is addressed to people with psychosocial difficulties who live in the community or in a psychosocial rehabilitation unit (Boarding House, Guest House, Protected Flat). It is aimed at helping them develop a social network, use their time creatively and cultivate their talents. The Social Club runs during weekdays, in the afternoon.

 

Employment counseling service

This service offers support on employment issues as well as information on training and employment programs of the Greek Manpower Employment Organization (OAED) and other organizations, in cooperation with the Social Cooperative of Limited Liability “Iliotropio”.

 

DEPOT CLINIC – Long acting injectable drugs clinic

The DEPOT Clinic is addressed to patients whose pharmaceutical treatment includes injectable long-acting antipsychotic drugs. Systematic monitoring of the patients, more consistent administration of their medication and early identification of possible side effects help to prevent relapses and improve the quality of their life.

 

Social Service

The social service provides information on social welfare benefits, rights, consulting, and liaison with other actors.

 

Community actions for promoting mental health

The scientific team of the Day Center carries our actions, holds conferences and seminars, and reaches out to the public via mass media.  In particular, cooperation, information and motivation programs are organized for community actors on mental health issues and the importance of their early detection, such as: 

• Awareness-raising and information campaigns via YouTube, social media, podcasts
• Cultivating a culture of ‘active citizenship’ through the participation in civil society activities
• Activities to eliminate social exclusion and promote social solidarity and inclusion

 

Volunteering

As volunteering offers significant benefits to volunteers and the beneficiaries alike, the Day Center runs a Volunteer Network, through which mental health professionals and volunteers of other backgrounds can participate in the implementation of varied activities. Our main concern is that volunteering takes place in a structured framework that provides them with opportunities for training, supervision, and internships.

 

Official actor for mental health professionals’ internships

The Day Center collaborates as a provider of internship positions with relevant undergraduate and postgraduate programs of universities, such as the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panteion University, Democritus University of Thrace, University of West Attica, etc., and it also provides the context for bachelor and master theses. It also collaborates on a permanent basis with psychotherapy training institutions, such as the Art and Psychotherapy Center.

 

Contact Details 

Address: 24E, Salaminomachon st., Amaroussion, GR- 15125

Tel.: +30 210 8100901

E-mail: dcentre@epapsy.gr 

Scientific Coordinator: Dimitris Trivellas

Days and hours of operation: Mon-Wed-Fri 08:00-17:00, Tue-Thu 08:00-20:00