Welfare Reform on the Web (November 2005): Mental Health Services - Overseas

Improving the mental health of the population: towards a strategy on mental health for the European Union: green paper

Commission of the European Communities

Brussels: 2005 (COM(2005) 484)

The European Commission has issued a consultation paper on mental health with proposals for tackling mental illnesses which now affect over one in four adults in the European Union. The green paper proposes three main areas for EU level action: 1) opening up a dialogue with member states to agree an action plan on mental health; 2) building up mental health information resources at EU level, including monitoring trends, collecting data and identifying best practice; and 3) launching an EU platform on mental health, which would bring together key stakeholders to look at how to integrate mental health into different sectors and policies and how to develop ethical considerations such as fundamental rights of mental illness sufferers.