The Covid-19 crisis is putting the mental health of many risk groups such as older people, children, women and carers under greater pressure. Forced home confinement, fear, lack of ‘physical’ human contacts, work-life balance under strain for parents and frontline workers, increasing domestice violence, job losses and economic insecurity, all this has and/or will have a massive – and unequal – impact on people’s mental health, with a more profound manifestation among lower socio-economic groups.
Together with EU organisations, we jointly recommend national, European and international decision-makers to take the following measures to address mental health issues during and in the aftermath of the crisis:
- Integrate mental health concerns into all crisis-response activities
- Communicate efficiently while containing panic and fear
- Protect the mental health of frontline workers
- Recognise the role of informal carers and provide them with adequate support counselling and training
- Assess and manage risks in work organisations
- Ensure timely access to and continuity of treatment and care for all who need it during and after the pandemic
- Protect the mental health of people in vulnerable situations, including older people
- Adopt a whole-of-society approach to mental health.
You will find more details on those recommendations in our common press statement
One week to reflect on mental health & COVID-19
This statement was published during the first European mental health awareness week ‘Together we can make it’, launched by Mental Health Europe (MHE) to highlight the importance of mental health during the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.
Follow the debates on Twitter using #EuropeanMentalHealthWeek
