The BApK (Bundesverband der Angehorigen psychisch Kranker) offers weekend workshops for family members of schizophrenia patients to share experiences and receive training in mechanisms and strategies for coping with stress related to home care. Curriculum development and delivery by experts in the field are supported through a $200,000 grant over three years. For each year, two sessions will gather 15 participants each for training in coping strategies and sharing of experiences as caregivers of schizophrenic patients. Effectiveness evaluation will be managed by the research group -- Evaluation of Sociopyschiatric Practice -- from the Department of Sociopsychiatry and Psychotherapy at Hanover Medical University. A communication plan will be devised to encourage replication, based on indicators of successful outcomes.

An initial psycho-educational weekend seminar was held in the autumn of 2005. Three additional weekend events were to be hosted by BApK in 2006. Three train-the-trainer seminars, intended to build further capacity for assisting family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia, were to be offered in 2006-2007.

The University Child Psychiatry Department at the "Aghia Sophia" Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece, will implement and operate a mental health hotline and crisis assessment and support center, to address the dramatic growth of the incidence of diagnosed reactive psychological disorders among youths.

The hotline and support center will identify mental health problems early and ensure easy access to appropriate mental health services for children, adolescents and their parents, provide primary advisory services along with guidelines regarding referral to mental health specialists, offer information services on youth mental health issues to health professionals, and record current needs in the field of mental health of children, adolescents and their families. The program is supported by a two-year, $500,000 grant to the Greek Association for Psychological Health in Children and Adolescents.