Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

This symposium aims to present new developments in mental health care of individuals with severe mental illness in Southern and Eastern Europe, where developing community based mental health care and in providing evidence-based interventions to individuals with severe mental illness is ongoing. Substantial efforts have been dedicated to policy development and clinical research in the region, however, less attention has been allocated to to implementation strategies for interventions and service delivery models for mental health care, and their evaluation in practice. Recently, the European Commission within its flagship research programme Horizon 2020 funded two large research projects with the goal to improve community-based mental health care in the Central and Eastern European region: ‘Implementation of an effective and cost-effective intervention for patients with psychotic disorders in low and middle-income countries in South Eastern Europe’ (IMPULSE) and ‘LaRge-scalE implementation of COmmunity based mental health care for people with seVere and Enduring mental ill health in EuRopE’ (RECOVER-E). This symposium brings together researchers involved in these projects to share lessons learned, new developments in research and treatment, and challenges specific to this area of Europe.