Association for Regional Development and Mental Health – EPAPSY

EPAPSY (Association for Regional Development and Mental Health) was founded in 1988, on the initiative of the Professor of Social Psychiatry, Stelios Stylianidis, proposing an alternative model of psychiatric care in the community based on the principles of Social Psychiatry and Psychosocial Rehabilitation. EPAPSY’s history is synonymous with the history of psychiatric reform in Greece, the struggles for the abolition of psychiatric asylums, the destigmatization of mental illness and the care of people with psychosocial problems with respect towards their rights and dignity. It all began with the opening of the first Psychosocial Rehabilitation Guest House in Greece, in 1990. Since then, its people work tirelessly to provide integrated mental health care to the community.
Today, EPAPSY is one of the largest non-profit mental health service providers in Greece, having the scientific and administrative responsibility of twenty-three Psychosocial Rehabilitation Accommodation Units throughout Greece, two Mobile Mental Health Units in the Cyclades and two Day Centers in Athens and Larissa. Within its scientific framework, it coordinates and implements European and international projects in collaboration with UNHCR, the European Alliance Against Depression, World Health Organization and other important entities, while it responds to social and health crises and natural disasters.
Always focused on its founding vision, EPAPSY regularly publishes scientific articles, delivers speeches and gives interviews in national media on the promotion of mental health in the community, psychosocial rehabilitation and the prevention of psychosocial problems.