A reform of the psychiatric care has been officially launched by the Ministry of Health in autumn 2012.  Its purpose was to modernize the whole system and increase the quality of life for people suffering from mental illness.

The Platform for mental health care transformation has been established, and was composed of representatives of majority network and umbrella professional organizations. Fokus ČR has become part of it, is still actively participating in the changes and from the beginning it attempts to influence the shape of the reform.

The National Action Plan for Mental Health 2020 - 2030 was created as part of the Psychiatric Care Reforms project.

 Find the declaration of mental health care transformation platform here: 

Psychiatric care in the Czech Republic compared to care provided abroad - some indicators:

• INADEQUATE size of institutions / harmfulness
• MINIMAL community services coverage
• LOW respect to civil rights of target group members
• Funding volume -   EXTREMELY LOW
• Separation of health care and social dimensions - IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERCOME
• VERY LOW employment rate of people suffering from severe mental illness
• HIGH level of stigma in psychiatric patients
• LACK OF COOPERATION - everybody minds his own business.

We strive for paradigm shifts concerning care approach transformation as follows:

„Recovery* is a highly personal and unique process of changes in attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills and roles. It is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful, and beneficial life even with the limitations caused by illness. Recovery involves the development of new meaning and purpose in one’s life as one grows beyond the catastrophic effects of mental illness (Anthony, 1993).

 “I overtook control over my disease and I accepted responsibility for what I do and what I don´t do. I do not allow it to control me. It is not my whole life, but only its part.”

Recovery components* (Andersen, Pares & Caputi, 2003)

• Finding and keeping one´s hope - belief in oneself, sense for personal participation , optimism towards future
• Repeated introducing of positive identity - finding a new identity which includes the illness but keeping a basic positive sense for one self
• Creating a meaningful life - find a reason in the illness, find a meaning of life in spite of the illness, take part in life
• Overtaking the responsibility and control- to take control over the illness and one´s life.

*terms of recovery are synonyms used by various authors