Fundão, Castelo Branco, Aug 28, 2024 (Lusa) — Starting in 2025, Fundão will have a Mental Health Socio-Occupational Unit and a Mental Health Home Support Team, according to Alcina Cerdeira, the person in charge.
The president of the Fundão Assistance, Cultural and Training Center (CACFF) told Lusa news agency that the two applications, totaling 400,000 euros, were approved under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and the tender “will be launched soon.”
The Mental Health Socio-Occupational Unit will be built in the center of Fundão, in the Castelo Branco district, in a new building representing an investment of about 300,000 euros. It will provide a service that “doesn’t exist in the entire region,” with the closest one being in Coimbra.
Alcina Cerdeira explained that the unit will operate during the day, with people returning to their homes afterward. The multidisciplinary team is also expected to work with caregivers.
“This Unit is not just to occupy people; they have well-defined objectives according to each person’s program because each one has a specific program based on their situation,” emphasized the CACFF president, the entity promoting the investment.
According to Cerdeira, the Mental Health Socio-Occupational Unit will have a capacity for ten people with mental illness who show disability in relational, occupational, and social integration areas.
“It has monitoring of daily activities, and there are also activities and training,” in addition to support for self-help groups, detailed Alcina Cerdeira. She added that it’s a space for “various situations,” including people with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or other mental illnesses.
The goal is for them to develop skills and undergo rehabilitation, added the CACFF president, who expects the Unit to be ready “by the end of 2025.”
The other approved application, for creating a Mental Health Home Support Team, represents an investment of about 100,000 euros and will provide support to 20 people of all ages in the Castelo Branco district.
The project includes acquiring a vehicle for the team to travel and adapting a space to accommodate technicians from various areas.
“The response is expected to rehabilitate relational skills, personal and domestic organization, with access to community resources,” emphasized Alcina Cerdeira.
The director highlighted the prevalence of mental health-related problems across all ages and considered the two new services applied for as “fundamental, in an area where there are few responses at the national level and where there must be a significant investment to address existing problems.”
CACFF already operates an Integrated Continuous Care Unit for Mental Health, which includes an Autonomy Training Residence with a capacity for six users and a Moderate Support Residence with a capacity for 16 users.
“These are two fundamental responses to complement the services in the mental health area,” Alcina Cerdeira emphasized in statements to Lusa.
