WHO Regional Office for Europe hosted their first ever Autumn School on Quality of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care in Thessaloniki in early November. Thirty-six participants with expertise in child and adolescent mental health from fifteen countries across the WHO European Region discussed how to define, assess and improve the quality of child and adolescent mental health. The course was designed and run by 31 experts in quality of care and child and adolescent mental health from 14 countries globally. We were delighted that Dr. Gwen Dieleman from Erasmus MC represented ESCAP at the event and presented a case study of quality improvement for child and adolescent eating disorders in The Netherlands.
The course focused on supporting the implementation of the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s upcoming Quality Standards for Child and Youth Mental Health Care, and more broadly quality improvement for child and adolescent mental health. The importance of strong leadership and staff wellbeing to provide high quality care was emphasized through experiential activities. Teaching methods included interactive presentations, small group discussions, site visits and case studies, utilizing the expertise of all in the room. Daily small group discussions allowed for the participants to consider how the teaching applied to their contexts, and to learn about child and adolescent mental health care in different contexts.
To finish their learning, the participants presented a quality improvement initiative that they will take back to implement in their home countries. The course finished with the first day of WHO/Europe’s 3rd Mental Health Week, Meeting on Quality of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Care, which brought together over 200 stakeholders across the WHO European Region to discuss quality of child and adolescent mental health care.
We would like to thank WHO Europe for inviting ESCAP to attend and present at this first Autumn School.
