Expert group Events
Sixth CEP expert group meeting, Barcelona, Spain, 2024
On 26th November 2024, CEP organised the first meeting of the Expert Group on Mental Health. The meeting was held at the Centre for Legal Studies and Judicial Training in Barcelona, Catalonia – Spain. 13 experts from 10 European jurisdictions participated in the expert meeting of this group.
The first meeting of the group has been a crucial meeting. This meeting has represented the kick-off of the work plan that the group will develop over the next two years.
The experiences of two European jurisdictions were presented in relation to the intervention with cases people under Probation with Mental Health issues. The Croatian and Maltese experiences were presented.
- State of play of the Mental Health approach in the Probation Service of Croatia
Petra Belec, Probation officer, Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transoformation, Croatia - State of play of the Mental Health approach in the Probation Service of Malta
Theressa Attard, Forensic psychologist, Department of Probation and Parole, Malta
At the second part of the meeting Professor Charlie Brooker from Royal Holloway, University of London presented The European survey of probation staff’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, mental illness (online).
Eoin P Ryan from the Irish Probation Service and Expert Group member presented a possible Action plan for the group to work upon the next two years.
Ana Cristina Neves, Head of the Community Sanctions and Measures Division in Portugal, and Chair of the Expert Group conducted interesting discussions and exchanges between experts of the group.
The next meeting of the group will be online in 2025.
Fifth CEP expert group meeting, online, 2023
On 18th April 2023, the members of the CEP expert group on Mental Health in Probation had their annual meeting. At this online meeting, several topics were discussed.
Professor Charlie Brooker, Royal Holloway, University of London – United Kingdom, presented the CEP research and its main outcomes in “The European survey of probation staff’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, mental illness”. Download the presentation and access the CEP research report.
The meeting continued with an interesting discussion on the research outcomes, differences, and similarities between different EU MS on the role of Probation Services when working with clients with mental health problems.
At this meeting, the group identified a tangible outcome to be achieved by the group in a two-year term and also agreed on the action plan for how to accomplish it.
The meeting was moderated by Ms. Jana Spero, CEP Secretary General, and the chair of this expert group Ms. Ana Cristina Neves, Head of the Community Sanctions and Measures Division. General-Directorate of Rehabilitation and Prison Service of Portugal.
>>Report of the meeting is available here.
Fourth CEP expert group meeting, Lisbon, Portugal, 2022
On 6th April, CEP held its fourth Expert Meeting with the Expert Group Mental Health in Probation in Lisbon, Portugal. Participants from nine different countries attended the meeting. All of them gave a presentation about mental health in probation in their own jurisdiction. There were also three presentations from experts on the following topics:
– A multidisciplinary approach to Mental Health and Probation: The experience of Project Pretrarca, Lisbon
– The Council of Europe white paper on Mental Health in prison and probation
– Research proposal on Mental Health and assessment
The presentations, reports and pictures of the meeting can be found here.
Third (online) expert group meeting 2021
On 27th January 2021, CEP held its third Expert group meeting. This was an online meeting and experts from eight different European jurisdictions participated the meeting. The programme of the expert group meeting included a presentation from Professor Charlie Brooker, Honorary Chair based at Royal Holloway, University of London. He presented a series of research studies on Mental Health and Probation undertaken largely at the University of Lincoln and at Royal Holloway, University of London. He continued by presenting a new research he is going to develop together with the Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) working group of the Council of Europe on Mental Health in Probation and asked expert group members for feedback on a survey for this research.
The report of this meeting can be found here.
Second (online) expert group meeting 2020
On 4th November 2020, CEP held its second Expert group meeting. This was an online meeting and experts from eight different European jurisdictions participated the meeting. The programme of the expert group meeting started by a presentation from Stacey Musimbe researcher at the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Centre in the UK, on the influence of Covid-19 on people suffering mental health problems.
The programme followed with a round table session where the expert group members presented the situation regarding Covid-19 in their own jurisdictions.
The report of this meeting can be found here.
First CEP expert group meeting, Valletta, Malta, 2019
On the 12th and 13th of February 2019, CEP held its first Expert Meeting with the Expert Group Mental Health in Probation in Valletta, Malta. Participants from nine different countries attended the meeting. All of them gave a presentation about mental health in probation in their own jurisdiction based on six question that were asked in advance. These were about general information, policy and research, training and expertise, treatment, main challenges and plans for the future.
The presentations of the meeting can be found here.