The Mayor of Mijas, Josele González, and the Councillor for Social Services, Hipólito Zapico, accompanied by Cristian González from the Association of Relatives & People with Mental Illness of the Costa del Sol (Afesol); the coordinator of the Mental Health Unit of Fuengirola-Mijas, Israel Codina; the Intendant of the Local Police Juan Manuel Rosas and the agent Angel Blanc; and Juan Miguel Marcos, President of the Idiliq Foundation, has unveiled the new initiative on Mental Health launched by the Consistory Mijeño.
According to the Mayor: “After launching pioneering and much-needed initiatives, such as the Local Suicide Prevention Plan, in which we involved schools and their counsellors, we are now going a step further in this area by promoting the training of our professionals in the Memphis Model of crisis intervention for people with mental health problems”.
“This innovative community model, which emerged in Memphis in 1988, seeks to go further and involve various agents of society where the preparation of law enforcement is essential to promote a safe and humane response to those experiencing this type of crisis”.
Thus, the members of the Mijas Local Police will be able to access this training by the police tutor, Angel Blanc, who together with Cristian Gonzalez on behalf of Afesol and Israel Codina, as coordinator of the Mental Health Unit of Fuengirola-Mijas, visited Miami last month to see first-hand the initiative, in order to implement it in the town.
As the councillor for Social Services explained: “One of the aspects that we have been working on in recent years from the Consistory is the expansion of the tutor agent programme, which although it began by focusing on students with absenteeism or similar problems, it has now become a much broader figure who actively collaborates in all kinds of programmes, such as Suicide Prevention”.
“In addition to this work, over the years, there has also been close collaboration with Afesol for intervention in cases involving people with mental health problems, so that they can be actively monitored, prioritising at all times the wellbeing of the person and those around them”.
On behalf of the Consistory and Afesol, they wanted to express their gratitude to the Idiliq Foundation, sponsor of the expedition to Miami. One of the aims of this Foundation is to offer support to groups and individuals on the Costa del Sol and Tenerife, thanks to donations and contributions from members and clients. A support that has been reflected in the financial contribution to this initiative, with Juan Miguel Marcos explaining: “For us it was a simple decision to collaborate with this project as we knew it was going to be a good initiative. In particular, the involvement of the Local Police offers us a greater guarantee of success in the process and the results. We will continue to work hand in hand with Mijas Town Hall, Afesol and Ángel Blanc throughout the development of this important action”.