Dialogue across in Europe
01-02-2008

SMES-Europa held its 10^th conference from January 23^rd – 25^th 2008. This time, as well as the first of the ten conferences, it was held in Rome. The conferences in between has been held in 8 other European capitals, and each time in respect of those special circumstances which effect the host country, and are thereby also marked by the differences in ways of talking and address things within the different European countries.   

There was a participant present from 16 different countries, from this also Canada and USA. Otherwise from Norway in the north till Spain in the south, and from Britain in the west till Rumania in the east. This of course meant an almost Babylonian jumble of different languages and of different experiences and attitudes that one had to do one’s share of overcoming, but which, if you went through the trouble, in return opened new doors to a new understanding and lots of new knowledge.

SMES, which originally from 1992, where the first conference was held, was an established working group within Mental Health Europe (MHE) and has since 2000 been an independent international association, it has as its special area of interest the relationship concerning health, particular psychological health, social expulsion and homelessness. And it was these areas that were discussed at the conference. A few of the contributions kept with these themes in at very overall, philosophical level. This kind of contributions can seem tiring and trivial in a world that demands precise knowledge, information and action. But on the other hand this can also provide, and did provide, the opportunity to begin considering and discussing values and attitudes. All this was, for many of the participants, also followed up during more informal times for instance during three evening events in social centres for both asylum seekers and migrants and the homeless.

The conference was arranged around three overall themes: outgoing and outreach work, job and employment and finally migrants.

From Italy we heard of their large and efficient system of co-operatives and also from Italy, of conditions and efforts concerning undocumented migrants. From almost all participating countries there were contributions about outreach work, either with focus on social conditions or on health conditions, especially the psychosocial. 

In Denmark undocumented migrants have no rights when it comes to health contributions, besides the acute and life saving. In Italy undocumented migrants have the right to have a document made, which provide them the right to receive all sorts of health contributions in line with the citizens of the country. The same kind of respect for the individual did those of us who participated in the evening event experience. The event was carried out by the organization Baobab, which in collaboration with the town government of Rome provides general support, social contributions and cultural gathering to asylum seekers and migrants.

In Stavanger they have an outgoing social psychiatric treatment team, and there is the same in Bucharest. The one in Norway is just in a whole other extent and with other possibilities, partly because they have access to more economic resources, and because there is far less (or maybe non at all) discrimination of certain groups of citizens.  Both teams were occupied with the need of continuing to exchange knowledge, and especially from Bucharest there were great appeals for collaborations to provide support to maintain a positive development of their work. All in all there was not a single country that could not present models for outgoing and outreach work.

From Scotland we heard of targeted efforts towards the homeless and received documentation for this through result statements. The same was heard from France, and none the least, one could get a splendid overview of the situation for the homeless in Europe through a contribution from FEANTSA.

Finally a representative from EC (The European Commission) gave an insight into the strategies and goals the EU member countries have agreed upon, when it comes to the struggle against poverty and social expulsion.

The conference once again showed that it is necessary and possible to create a forum to exchange views, in a forum that does not only focus on the hard facts, but also tries to unite these contributions and discussions, which reveals and presents considerations concerning values and attitudes. This gives rise to disagreements and thus good discussions.

With approximately 40 members distributed across Europe, SMES is a small and certainly not a rich organization. This is also the reason why a SMES-conference is not a smooth and perfect settled event. But that does not prevent us from saying certain things and tightening connections, which can have far-reaching importance further on.

projekt UDENFOR has been a part of creating SMES and has a seat in the SMES committee. For further information about SMES, please go to www.smes-europa.org or contact Preben Brandt pb@udenfor.dk 

The speeches and presentations from the conference can be found on the SMES website within the next couple of weeks. Before March 1^st, you can find a review of some of the experiences from the SMES-conference here at projekt UDENFOR’s website.

Preben Brandt