On 27 November 2024, CEP organized the Workshop on Mental Health Importance: supporting treatment processes in probation. The workshop was held at the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialized Training in Barcelona, Catalonia-Spain.

The workshop was attended by 50 face-to-face participants from 16 different jurisdictions who came together to understand and discuss how to respond appropriately and how to support mental health treatment processes in Probation. Plus more than 100 professionals attended online.

Through this workshop, CEP proposed approaching the problem of Mental health in the context of Probation from a multidisciplinary and multiagency scheme.

The workshop started from a Human Rights perspective sharing the work that is being carried out by the Council of Europe. The workshop then continued with a more specific look by analysing mental health from the perspective of resilience, inter-agency cooperation and the role of the community, work with trauma and a gender perspective when working with clients with mental health problems.

The second part of the workshop included a world café session. This session provided a context through which participants were able to exchange in a very practical way, and share visions and perspectives on working with people who have committed crimes and have mental health problems.

Presentations

• The proposed Recommendation regarding the Promotion of Mental Health and the Management of Mental Disorders of Prisoners and Probationers
  Mr. Dirk van Zyl Smit, CoE Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) United Kingdom (Online)
• State-dependent functioning, mental health and behaviour
  Dr Jane Mulcahy, University of Limerick, Ireland
• Mental Health and Probation in Catalonia
  Isabel Hernandez Gimenez – Coordinator Probation team of Barcelona. IRES, Catalonia – Spain
  Cristina Muro Celma – Psychiatrist at a Mental Health Centre and at the Functional Recovery Unit at Hospital del Mar, Catalonia – Spain
• Traumatic events: their short- and long-term consequences as possible sources of aggression/violence
  Prof. Lidija Arambašić – Faculty of humanities and social sciences, Department of psychology, Zagreb, Croatia
• Gender matters: Towards more gender-responsive approaches in criminal justice settings
  Prof. Vivienne de Vogel – Psychologist and Professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, Netherlands