3. Adopting an Interdisciplinary and Intersectoral Approach

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The training programme takes into account the necessarily interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach to mental health promotion. It aims for all stakeholders to have collective ownership of the training programme and of the mental health promotion interventions associated with the programme. It encourages the acquisition of leadership skills to build shared vision, shared planning and strategy for mental health promotion actions.

 

What this criterion means for care professionals

 

"The promotion of mental health is not restricted to mental health professionals. In fact, the more different the people involved are, the better the outcome: changes in values in a society must include many professionals and people of different classes with a different jargon and different languages." (Sartorius 1992)

 

The complex interactions between the determinants of mental health (social networks, illnesses, housing, income, education…) can create equally complex interactions between the different sectors, professions, legal texts, administrations and political instances involved. The juxtaposition of these professional fields brings service responses which can sometimes be in contradiction with each other. Individuals can be forced to circle from one system to another, from one sector to another. All health professionals must understand the importance for mental health promotion of working (a) with other health professionals and (b) with professionals from institutions outside the healthcare area. The multidisciplinary approach means that the care professional must understand that he/she is no longer “alone at the patient’s bedside”, but working with professionals in other care professions (psychiatrists, psychologists, administrative personnel, social workers...). The multisector approach means that they must develop skills for working with professionals from highly diverse cultural environments: developing common vocabulary, shared culture on mental health promotion.

 

At the same time, it is important to underline that the role of the health promotion professional is not just to support these other professionals and defend their professional approaches. Their main mission is to be in partnership with the individual or the communities they are serving.

 

What this criterion means for initial training

 

Training should explore how to translate intersectoral and multidisciplinary principles into practice. Training designers themselves may need to rethink their own approaches, for example by involving different professionals in designing the training modules in order to develop a shared vocabulary, and shared rules for collaboration, understood and accepted by all. This often entails deconstructing work habits and professional jargon developed over years of working and teaching life.

 

Ideas for training modules/exercises

 

• Invite experts from different professions (e.g. psychologists, social workers, nurses, teachers, psychiatrists) to share their knowledge and experience in a specific field of mental health promotion with students (e.g. skills building programmes, child and youth development programmes).

• Introduce joint training sessions on mental health promotion with different health professions represented amongst participants, for example parenting skills modules which train nurses, psychologists and social workers together in the 1st year of study.

• Create a map of different service providers and actors in the field of mental health promotion in a particular neighbourhood or area. Describe the philosophies and work concepts of the different professions involved. Describe the way the different professions interact within the area of mental health promotion. Identify the limits and possibilities of different professions for cooperation.

• Ask students to prepare examples of an intersectoral mental health promotion programme: for example, in schools, at work, in community development.

• Create workshops where students are required to propose projects in which they will play a leadership role in interdisciplinary teams with other professions, including professions from outside the health or social care area – for example, a project on well-being at the lunch break in schools, inviting other stakeholders to participate: the cook, the baker, the catering manager, the person who designs the menus, waiters, cleaning crew, parents, perhaps even artists. The workshop would not be limited to food and nutrition at school but would include what happens at home, the local bakery, the neighbourhood supermarket, the fast-food shop…

 

Illustrate how this criterion could be respected for continuous training

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Professional skills and remits evolve rapidly, particularly in new areas such as mental health promotion. Qualified professionals should regularly update their knowledge about the different professions and sectors that work in this area. They should have the opportunity to be taught by mental health promotion experts from different professions to keep up to date with these changes.

 

Ideas for training modules/exercises

 

• Involve different professionals in building and delivering the training programme, in order to promote a shared learning vocabulary. This will often entail deconstructing work habits and professional jargon developed over years of working life and building shared rules for collaboration, understood and accepted by all.

• In a project on stress management and work-life balance in industry, teach participants skills on how to "enter" into the company and to communicate with workers, employers as well as occupational medicine specialists and company social workers, getting to know their different professional practices and how each can contribute to promoting mental health in the workplace.

• Shifting from professional isolation to multidisciplinary cooperation. Ask participants to plan a mental health promotion programme for one profession. Add another profession to the team. Debate what the new team member might be able to bring to the programme. Then add a third profession, etc.

• Ask participants to create a community program on mental health promotion, for example, a mental health promotion action in a primary school, aimed at creating a safe and mental health-friendly school environment. Invite all the school community to participate in building the programme. Identify the different goals they would like to reach and the strategies they would like to implement. Then identify the areas of knowledge and professional expertise that should be incorporated into the program and organize a multidisciplinary team of advisors covering the different fields of expertise (social workers, nurses, nutritionists, traffic police, lawyers, etc.).  Decide whether to invite a multidisciplinary team as temporary support in shaping the program or as permanent collaborators.

 

Consult the following Resource Kit for further information, relevant legal and policy texts, and examples of posters, slides and training programmes that respect this criterion:

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