Large Scale Implementation of Community Based Mental Health Care for People With Severe and Enduring Mental Ill Health in Europe

RECOVER-E's main purpose is to ensure well-functioning community mental health teams in five countries in Europe; these teams will serve as the central node for the coordination and provision of care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). At present, specialist teams providing comprehensive, evidence-based mental health care are not available or functional in many countries in Eastern Europe, and the care pathways and evidence-based treatment protocols for community-based and recovery-oriented mental healthcare have not been defined or tailored to local situations and therefore, are not being implemented. This project aims to implement and study community-based initiatives to narrow this gap. These efforts will emphasize the development of human resource capacity and care pathways that can be distilled in a comprehensive pathway to scale for regional and national decision-makers for potential project expansion and replication after the project period.

AIMS / OBJECTIVES The overall aim of Recover-E is to contribute to the implementation of a community-based service delivery model in five implementation sites in low and middle-income countries and vulnerable populations in high-income countries in Europe to improve the level of functioning, quality of life, and mental health outcomes for people with severe and enduring mental ill health (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression).

RECOVER-E's specific project objectives are to:

* design, implement and evaluate recovery-oriented care for people with severe mental illness in community settings by recognizing the value of experiential knowledge through including peer experts as members of the community mental health teams
* identify intervention and program elements, as well as contextual factors, which enhance sustainable implementation of community-based mental healthcare for people with severe mental illness
* establish a peer-to-peer capacity building partnership in community mental health, by linking a European expert panel with key stakeholders in five implementation sites (policy makers, service managers, service providers, users, and carers) to co-create community health services for people with SMI
* develop evidence-based care pathways and treatment protocols and transition to scale for regional and national decision-makers, for continued implementation and scale up after the project's life span

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:The target population for inclusion in the study are consenting adults (ages 18-65 years) with severe mental illness (SMI), defined based on Deslespaul's conceptualisation of SMI:

1. meets criteria for (and presence of) bipolar disorder, severe major depression, schizophrenia, schizophreniform, and schizoaffective disorder according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The person should require care and treatment and not be in symptomatic remission;
2. has severe limitations in social and community functioning;
3. problems are not transient in nature; the problems are systematic and long-term, and potentially chronic, intermitted, and/or recurrent;
4. coordinated care provided by care networks or multidisciplinary teams is needed to deliver treatment
5. Patients with prevalence of suicidal behaviours (including suicide attempts)

Exclusion criteria are:

1. Patients under the age of 18
2. Patients with dementia or Alzheimer's disease
3. Patients for whom treatment is legally prescribed (in forensic psychiatry), however if they are discharged from the forensic ward, and still in need of treatment they can be included