Benidorm adds its voice to AFEM and calls for education to stop the advance of mental illness and achieve inclusion

Benidorm City Council has added today its voice to the Association of Families and People with Mental Illness of Marina Baixa (AFEM) to demand measures to stop the progress and incidence of these diseases and achieve the inclusion of those who suffer it, starting with education in schools. This has been one of the claims made by the group during the celebration of World Mental Health Day and is linked to this year's theme: 'Inclusive education. Positive Mental Health. '

The provincial deputy of Social Welfare, Carmen Verdú, has been commissioned to read the commemorative manifesto in an act that also involved the mayor, Toni Pérez, and has been held in the Assembly Hall of the City Council. The act was also attended by the Councilor for Social Welfare, Ángela Llorca; members of the corporation; the president of AFEM, Mª Consolación Muro; the director of the Socio-Asistencial Complex Doctor Esquerdo of Alicante, José Luis Villar; AFEM staff; and users of the association and the centers CRIS (Center for Rehabilitation and Social Integration) and CEEM (Specific Center for People with Mental Illness) of Benidorm. Prior to this act, a banner commemorating World Mental Health Day was displayed on the balcony of the City Hall.

The head of Social Welfare of the Provincial Council of Alicante has assessed "the tenacity and work" carried out by AFEM and its collaborators so that "once and for all the visibility of mental illnesses is achieved without etiquettes and without stigmas", something in what must be worked on "from the earliest stages of education" teaching the youngest "values ​​such as tolerance" and "admit diversity and love these people".

Verdú added that it is also necessary to achieve "labor insertion without barriers"; and has encouraged AFEM to continue "struggling to find impact and support for new individualized care plans, as well as having sheltered homes to achieve maximum autonomy for all patients." Then, he reaffirmed the commitment of the provincial body to continue supporting the association.

A support to AFEM that has also ratified the mayor, who stressed that the support of Benidorm is also added to other municipalities in the region. Toni Pérez has said that "visualizing the reality" that mental illness entails is "a daily task, which requires a lot of effort," since "the claim is permanent as it must be the active listening of the administrations."

The mayor stressed that the province of Alicante has traditionally been a "pioneer and advance" in infrastructures for people with mental illness, and added that "Benidorm has the great fortune to have specific facilities for this and with a collective as AFEM ".

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During the ceremony to commemorate World Mental Health Day, the psychologist of AFEM, Vicenta Benlloch, has reviewed the main disorders that are treated in the association, as well as its impact on the global population. In his speech, he stressed that "we must stop the WHO's predictions" which state that "in the coming years, mental disorders will be the main cause of disability in the world." To stop this trend, "we have to work in education" so that from the school age people "have the capacity to face an increasingly changing reality".