FEAM Forum workshop – Mental Health in healthcare and veterinary professionals – 26 October 2023 – 10.30 – 12.00 CET (online)

Conference
FEAM Forum Workshop “Mental Health in healthcare and veterinary professionals”
26 October 2023 | 10:30 – 12:00 (CET)
Online
The recording of the workshop is available here

Work stress refers to the harmful physical and emotional effects which occurs when job requirements do not match workers’ resources. This situation often leads to poor mental and physical health, affecting the psychological, emotional, and social well-being of an individual.

Mental health is an integral part of health and nowadays, it represents a priority for the EU Commission, which has supported actions and projects over the past 25 years to improve people’s mental health in the EU and beyond. In her 2022 State of the Union speech, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the Commission’s intention to present “a new initiative on mental health” in 2023. More recently, on 7 June 2023, the Commission adopted the Communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health, which will help Member States and stakeholders to take swift action to deal with mental health challenges.

While many countries have implemented measures to protect and care for people’s mental health, the magnitude of the current challenges requires further action to prevent permanent consequences for society. A shift of prioritisation towards prevention is now needed to tackle behavioral risk factors and social, environmental, and commercial determinants and to have more ambitious actions on mental health promotion and prevention of mental ill health.

In this context, the FEAM European Biomedical Policy Forum and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) have organized a webinar to draw attention on the current mental health challenges, affecting specifically the healthcare and veterinary sectors in the EU. This webinar was a call – for EU institutions, EU Member States, health industry and other health stakeholders – for taking concrete measures to support mental health. In addition, the event was an opportunity to gather experts from academia, research charities, industry, European and national trade associations and professional bodies, regulators, public health bodies, and patient and consumers groups to share evidence and suggestions on the way the EU could promote good mental health and prevent mental ill-health.

Agenda:

Welcoming (10.30 – 10.35)

• Prof. Celso Arango, Spanish Academy of Medical Sciences (Moderator)

General introductory presentation (10.35 – 11.00)

• Jean-Pierre Michel, Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Geneva University Medical School
• Tricia Colville, FVE/FECAVA/IVSA Working Group Chair on Mental Well-being and DEI

Panel discussion (11.00 – 11.30)

• Katarzyna Ptak Bufkens, Policy Officer – Directorate General for Health and Food Safety, European Commission
• Katerina Drakos, Global Mental Health – Representative of the European Parliament
• Paul De Raeve, Secretary General – European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN)
• Despoina Iatridou, Senior Veterinary Policy Officer – Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE)
• Jose Luis Gomez, VP Public Policy and Advocacy EMEA (Becton Dickinson)

Q&A (11.30 – 11.55)

Concluding remarks (11.55 – 12.00)

If you missed the workshop, you can watch the recording here.