The Health Park incorporates six floors in El Prat to promote more community-based mental health

The Sant Joan de Déu Health Park will incorporate six new apartments in El Prat de Llobregat in the apartment network to promote new community recovery itineraries for people with mental health problems. The homes, which will offer between 14 and 16 places, will be intended for people admitted to medium and long-stay psychiatric facilities who are in an advanced phase of their recovery process.

The new apartments, awarded by the Habitat3 Foundation under a renewable lease, they will function as a transition resource towards a more autonomous life, and will facilitate the residents' ability to develop their community life project with the support of professional teams.

The initiative is part of thetransformation strategy for long-term psychiatric stays promoted by the Sant Joan de Déu Health Park, and aligned with the Department of Health, which is committed to progressively replacing prolonged hospital stays with community care models adapted to the needs of each person. The objective is to favor recovery itineraries that promote autonomy, the social inclusion and the exercise of citizenship rights.

The apartments will be intended for people who, after a hospital rehabilitation process, need to continue with their recovery with support to consolidate their autonomy before accessing their own home, a social apartment or another community residential resource.

“The challenge is build real recovery itineraries that allow people to carry out their life project in the community. These apartments are a fundamental intermediate stage because they offer a standardized environment in which to continue working on daily living skills, autonomy and social bonding with the support of professional teams,” explains the Dr. Antoni Serrano, director of the Mental Health Network of the Sant Joan de Déu Health Park.

From the hospital to the community

The professionals of the Mental Health Network of the SJD Health Park carry out individualized monitoring of the residents, with interventions aimed at strengthening their autonomy, the management of daily life and integration into the neighborhood and the community resources of the territory.

The homes are designed for people with serious mental disorders who have achieved sufficient clinical stability to advance in their recovery process. This is a model that relocate part of the rehabilitation from the hospital environment towards real living spaces, located within the community, where people can put into practice the skills necessary to live increasingly independently.

This initiative continues experiences developed in recent years by the Sant Joan de Déu Health Park in the field of community support, and consolidates a line of work aimed at offering alternatives to prolonged institutionalization. The model puts the person at the center instead of the device, promotes their rights and encourages active participation in community life.

A transformation based on rights, recovery and alliances

The incorporation of the apartments also exemplifies the importance of alliances between the health and social sectors to make new models of care possible. The collaboration with the Habitat3 Foundation allows expand available residential resources and move towards a more flexible support network adapted to needs of people.

The Sant Joan de Déu Health Park proposes an evolution of services from traditional institutional care towards community residential alternatives, supported housing and rehabilitation devices integrated into neighborhoods, with the aim that each person can develop their life project with maximum autonomy and in the shortest possible time.