Franco Rotelli
(23 July 1942 – 16 March 2023)
It is with the greatest sadness that we are announcing the death or our dear friend and President, Franco Rotelli.
He was one of the architects of the Psychiatric Reform in Italy and one of the main collaborators of Franco Basaglia . From 1979 until 1995 Rotelli was the director of the Psychiatric Hospital of Trieste. He led the transformation of mental health services which has become famous all over the world.
In 1998 he became General Manager of the Trieste Health Authority, a role he held for ten years. For a shorter period, from 2001 to 2004, he was director of the Caserta health company .
In 2013 he was elected Regional Councilor and President of the Health and Social Policies Commission of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region with the Democratic Party.
He was a pioneer of community mental health development all over the world bringing about significant change in Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Leros and many other countries.
He was a prolific writer with many papers on deinstitutionalisation.
In the texts of conferences in Italy, Japan, Brazil, Spain, France and many other countries collected in the book "For normality" he gradually describes the path of radical restructuring of the mental health services of Trieste, illustrating its inspiring principles.It analyses the paths of deinstitutionalisation and "institutional invention" that have revolutionised the organisation of psychiatry in Trieste and in many other places in Italy and in other European and non-European countries.
He wanted a health system that is able to deal with the real problems of people's lives, and therefore also with the non-health determinants of health and with community ties.
Franco Rotelli's action and thought have always been guided by the conviction that "the fundamental contradiction of our time is that between closed institutions and open institutions, and that working on this dialectic must be a priority commitment at a political, ethical, science, in social organisations and in interpersonal relationships”.
His work is as relevant today but even more so. We should continue his valuable work as a legacy to this great pioneer and leader.
16th March 2023
The IMHCN is an International Non Governmental Organisation founded by Mental Health Organisations and individuals who have developed good practices and services in community mental health based on the whole life whole system approach.
Our membership consists of professionals, managers, service users and experts of experience, family members, policy makers from many countries.
The IMHCN was established in 1994 and is now a not for profit company, registered as a UK charity
For more information about IMHCN go here
If you would like to join us go here
IMHCN International Mental Health Learning, Development and Training School
The International Mental Health Learning, Development and Training School aims to address the need and help to transform mental health services and practices across the world.
The aims and objectives of the School are to:
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- Assist Mental Health providers in the transformation of their services and practices
- To help organisations to develop a Whole Person, Whole Life-Whole System Strategy
- To increase the knowledge of mental health workers in the social determinants of mental health
- To introduce recovery and discovery tools and instruments
We will be running regular webinars in partnership with OnlineEvents, you can see our programme here.
Find out more about the International School here
Webinar Programme 2022
Webinars now available as recordings
You can view the webinars we have held to date as recordings for £9.99. Click on title to go to OnlineEvents where you can purchase the recording
Acute and Crisis Services: Alternatives to Hospital with Benna Waites and Joanne
This webinar discussed the importance of establishing community based acute and crisis services as alternatives to In-patient Units. It focused on the need to provide a more recovery-based approach to people undergoing repeated readmissions to hospital. It is fundamental that an acute and crisis whole system is developed, comprising of essential service components that can create a new opportunity for service users to recover their lives. It also explored the meaning of a “crisis” particular to peoples real whole life experiences and needs. The experiences in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board where they have delivered a Shared Lives service and a Support House (Ty Cynnal) for people in a crisis are described.
Consequences and Opportunities for Peoples’ Mental Health from the Pandemic: Big issues identified by Covid-19: Requiring Fundamental Change in Mental Health, A Local and Global Action Plan With Dainius Puras, Roberto Mezzina, John Jenkins and Ingrid Daniels
The Coronavirus Pandemic is a time of difficulty but also an opportunity for human ingenuity, endeavour and learning. This Webinar describes IMHCN’s Action Plan developed with international and national partners. The Action Plan recognises the important key issues that effects people as a result of the pandemic. These lessons we have known about before, but the pandemic has shone a spotlight of the importance on service users, families and communities.
The Challenge and Opportunity for Society, Communities and Psychiatric Hospitals to Improve Community Mental Health Services with John Jenkins, Clarissa Corradi-Webster, Rossana Maria Seabra Sade, Jan Pfeifer
This webinar addressed the importance of changing the culture inside hospitals and considers how to overcome the barriers to change through different thinking, practices and services.
These include:
- Improving the fabric, environment, habitat, programs, therapies, rehabilitation programs, community partnerships and integration with other Mental Health services.
- The training and re-orientation of staff is essential, based on a recovery and discovery approach.
- The importance of the systemic protection of human rights for service users.
- Preparing the management and staff to work on developing community supports and services for social re-integration of users into the community.
- The process of community mental health system development and subsequent downsizing of psychiatric hospitals.
- The importance of addressing the social determinants of mental health through a whole life whole system approach.
The Development of the Recovery/Discovery House & Community Workshop with Fabio Musco, Michele Sipala, Thais Thome S. Oliveira & Paul Baker
This webinar considers the ways in which the needs of people with severe and enduring needs can be supported through the creation of recovery/discovery spaces and through their community of peers, family and workers. The focus of the Trieste Recovery House is to create a space of self-determination, shared responsibility and ownership including family members. We discuss the establishment of the recovery house and community in Trieste that has been running for over five years and supported over 60 people and their families.We also discuss the role of the Recovery Community that supported the work of the Recovery House by creating a democratic and reflective space based on the principles of ‘nothing about us without us’.
Changing the Thinking, Practice in Mental Health Service Systems Workshop with Paul Baker and John Jenkins
This webinar challenges powerful hierarchies that perpetuate outdated thinking. We describe a successful participatory approach through Action Learning sets that have been used in several places. We describe what Action Learning Sets are and how they can be useful in changing thinking, practice and systems. This successful participatory approach has been used across the world in transforming mental health, gaining widespread ownership through active and meaningful participation including the importance of leadership, co-production, sharing knowledge and innovation.
Integrating Mental Health into Primary Health Services Workshop with Dr Alison Battersby, Sara Mitchell, and Rajiah Abu Sway
The benefits of integrating mental health into primary healthcare are significant. On the one hand, integration ensures that the population as a whole has access to the mental healthcare that they need early in the course of problems and without disruption. On the other hand, when people receive treatment in primary healthcare facilities the likelihood of better health outcomes, and even full recovery, as well as maintained social integration is increased. Our presenters will draw on their own experience of the benefits of developing comprehensive primary mental health support.
Roberto Mezzina, Pina Ridente, Renzo Bonn, Peppe Dell'Acqua
This webinar describes the Trieste Mental Health Services and Practices. It will focus on the principles and values that underpinned the structure of this progressive mental health system and service developed over the last 40 years.
Essential elements & components of the experience include:
- human rights, recovery and social inclusion, citizenship, holistic care
- Developing a methodology for a whole system / network of community services and social capital
- Developing a 24-hour Community Mental Health Centre and crisis approach
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