by Maximiliano Crocamo
Interview: Riccardo Riccardi, FVG Councillor for Health and Social Policies; Antonio Poggiana, Director General of ASUGI (Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Giuliano Isontina)
More than 200 students, patients, health professionals, family members and community organizations attended an open day Tuesday at the Mental Health Center in Monfalcone, highlighting efforts to strengthen cooperation between health and social services.
Riccardo Riccardi, Friuli Venezia Giulia’s regional health and social policies commissioner, said mental health services needed to adapt to changing social needs, particularly among younger people.
“Social needs are growing much faster than health needs,” Riccardi said, calling for closer coordination between medical and social services.
The fourth annual event placed particular emphasis on schools and youth mental health. Students from the Buonarroti high school in Monfalcone took part in discussions about anxiety, access to mental health services and the challenges facing young people.
Giovanni Austoni, director of the center, said mental health services were increasingly encountering complex situations involving youth distress, family problems and substance use that do not always fit neatly into a single diagnosis.
The center serves about 74,500 residents in Monfalcone, surrounding communities and Grado, and currently works with about 1,100 people. Its staff includes roughly 35 doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, educators and psychiatric rehabilitation specialists.
The program also addressed treatment quality and the role of “experts by experience” — people who have experienced psychiatric disorders themselves and contribute that knowledge to mental health services and other patients.
The center operates within the tradition of Italy’s Basaglia movement, which emphasized community-based mental health care and reducing institutionalization and stigma. Organizers said the open day was intended to present the center not only as a medical facility but as a space connected to the wider community.
The event included panel discussions, exhibitions of artwork created through activities with patients, music and presentations by local associations.
