Valladolid (EFE).- A network for the detection of mental health problems coordinated by the Ministries of Health, Education and Family; more counselors and mental health professionals in all provinces; new day hospitals and a new comprehensive social service are the main measures that will form part of the plan for the prevention of suicidal behavior in Castilla y León.
This is a response that the Junta de Castilla y León wants to give to the increasing problem of suicidal behavior among the population, which requires “new guidelines, protocols and training”, since it is a “very important challenge”, since “Nobody chooses to have a mental illness, because it can touch us all”, explained this Tuesday in the presentation of these proceedings the president of the Board, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco.
In this sense, the president of the Board has detailed that the first measure that will be implemented and that will come into operation this same month of April is the hiring of guidance personnel in educational centers to thus reduce the ratio of 400 students per teacher in matter at 250.
detection network
In addition, the regional government will create a network for alert detection of mental health problems, with reference professionals in the field in all the provinces, one in each except in León, which will have two, one for the Bierzo region.
Likewise, Mañueco has announced new day hospitals and a new comprehensive social service for families linked to telecare, which will also have an improvement in the time availability of coexistence coordinators for the elderly, among other measures.
With all these measures, the Government of Castilla y León wants to “open a great social debate on mental health to face this problem among all”, given the “worrying increase in cases”, Mañueco added.
More cases after the pandemic
Precisely, at the hospital level, psychiatrists have detected an “alarming increase” in suicidal and self-injurious behaviors since the covid pandemic, as explained at the event by the head of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry area of the Valladolid Clinic, Soraya Geijo .
Specifically, Geijo has detailed that the disorders that have increased the most have been those linked to eating behaviors and anxiety, although the latter have stabilized in recent months.
All this, to the point where there have been increases of more than a hundred inquiries above the previous levels, which has aggravated the problem of waiting lists, hence Geijo has taken the opportunity to request an increase of the ten beds that the Community currently has for this unit.
Finally, the head of the Zamora Community Mental Health area, nurse Ana Isabel Castaño, stressed the importance of making visible and conveniently explaining what a mentally ill person is, since “only three percent of them commit crimes.” , so that he has asked to put an end to the stereotypes or negative connotations that these diseases still carry. EFE
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