Annual report 2004 - Compagnia di San Paolo

Il Bandolo – insieme per sciogliere I nodi del disagio mentale
(together to unravel the knots of mental disease)
www.ilbandolo.org
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Mental illness is a constantly growing and spreading
phenomena that strikes across different strata of the
population, even younger generations.
The project “The Bandolo – together to unravel the knots
of mental disease” is promoted by the Compagnia di San
Paolo with the partnership of the Mental Health
Departments of the ASL (Public Health Districts) of Turin
and six Turin charity institutions with sound experience in
this field: Associazione per la Lotta contro le Malattie
Mentali, Casa Bordino, Di.A.Psi. Piemonte - Difesa
Ammalati Psichici, Associazione Insieme, Associazione
Evoluzione Self Help and Associazione Arcobaleno. They
all participate on an equal footing and supplement their
activities through an active and comprehensive network
building approach. The initiative has the patronage of the
Piedmont Region, the Province of Turin and the City of
Turin.
Il Bandolo addresses Turin adults and their families,
experiencing situations of hardship due to mental illness
that impairs their interpersonal and social relationships
capacity.
An immediate psychological aid is supplied by way of the
telephone helpline 011.2302727 (every day from 10 am to
10 pm); where necessary, a team of specialists
(psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers) or
representatives of partner associations intervene.
Firstly, psychiatrists are available for interviews at the
project’s headquarters to outline a clinical intervention
programme (if appropriate) to be carried out by the
competent Mental Health Departments. Secondly, partner
Associations can provide social accompaniment in
various instances: helping people in their daily lives,
providing the families with information from a specific
office, organising temporary residential care in residential
homes, with social and professional rehabilitation
activities, and facilitating psycho-educational courses
and mutual help groups for families.
To carry out this project, which started last November, in
2004 the Compagnia allocated a grant of € 100,000 (as
well as a total contribution of € 1.3 million awarded in
2003).
Thanks to the work of voluntary workers and qualified
personnel, the Bandolo hopes to counter the prejudice that
still exists towards the mentally ill, proving that they can
have a normal social life, that can be improved by a safety
network. With its activities the Bandolo aims at
formalising the traditionally concealed status of these
groups.