Member Spotlight November 2019

Platform for mental health ‘Кожа’ (Skin) in a few lines?

“Кожа-чувствам се добре” or “Skin – I feel good” foundation is a Bulgaria-based NGO  aimed at tackling the mental health stigma and raise awareness about the need for early intervention and improved access to professional care as well as initiating inter-institutional dialogue, including at the level of Bulgarian/European institutions.

What are your main activities?

Currently, Skin operates mainly as a campaigning organisation. Among our main activities are:

• Preparation and publishment of biweekly interviews with popular Bulgarians, discussing their experience with self-esteem, social roles and expectations, emotions, and general mental health;
• Building and maintaining a database of legitimate mental health professionals across the country as well as Bulgarian speaking professionals abroad;
• Preparation and dissemination of informational materials;
• Maintaining a blog section in guest authors – Bulgarian and international mental health experts;
• Gathering and publishing up-to-date information from the European institutions and international mental health policymakers;
• Development of digital and online tools and applications in Bulgarian for supporting mental health care.

What are your main priorities?

With mental health stigma on the rise in Bulgaria, including amongst health practitioners such as GPs, Skin’s main priority is building awareness and striving to create a normalised social dialogue around mental health.  For that, we are focused on campaigning and disseminating informational material, together with developing and maintaining a database of liable qualified mental health professionals.We are determined to make Skin the go-to place for both people in search of mental health support, as well as professionals, institutions, organisations. The foundation has its development planning an array of further activities, the realisation of which is a subject of its financial stability. It is on our list to champion the:

• • organising mental health seminars, workshops, discussions and other events targeting mental health stigma and promoting a culture of care and prevention for both professionals and the general public;
  • collecting and processing of data on mental across the country;
  • participating in the development of a unified accreditation system for people working in the field of mental health care;
  • lobbying for changes in budgeting and psychiatric care laws;
  • development of digital tools for supporting mental wellbeing.

Where can we find out more?

• Website: www.koja-bg.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkinIFeelGood/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skinifeelgood/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/SkinIFeelGood
• Publications and resources: https://www.koja-bg.org/brochures/