EU-MiCare Project on Migrants’ and Refugees’ Mental Health: The First Phase Is Complete, Ready to Move Forward

The EU-MiCare project “Training the EU health workforce to improve migrant and refugee mental health care”, of which Zadig is a partner, has successfully achieved the objectives of its first phase.
EU-MiCare is a three-year project (October 2022 – September 2025) co-funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme.

The project focuses on the mental health needs of migrants and refugees and aims to develop an advanced, specialised training programme for mental health professionals and field workers, including volunteers, who operate in culturally diverse settings.

First-Phase Objectives Achieved

During the first phase, the project worked to achieve the following objectives:

• to strengthen professional skills in responding to the mental health needs of vulnerable populations such as migrants and refugees;

• to raise awareness among professionals of the potential of interdisciplinary and intercultural collaboration;

• to increase awareness within the communities and professional organisations involved;

• to expand access to the Erasmus+ Programme for health professionals working with migrants and refugees;

• to raise awareness among migrants and refugees about mental health issues, encouraging greater understanding and help-seeking behaviour;

• to enhance partners’ capacity to design and deliver appropriate training for professionals working with migrants and refugees experiencing psychological distress.

Activities Carried Out in the First Phase

Throughout the first phase, the project carried out and completed several key activities:

• analysis and profiling of training needs related to migrant and refugee mental health in Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain;

• co-creation and co-validation sessions to collect experiences and identify the specific needs of professionals working with migrants and/or refugees;

• analysis and validation of training materials through a training-of-trainers programme, with a view to their inclusion in the online training course;

• design and implementation of a dedicated online platform, where all training materials will be made freely available.

Next Phases Underway

The subsequent phases of the project are now getting underway and will focus on:

• drafting and finalising the training content (original English version) for online publication on the platform;

• translating the content into the languages of the partner countries (Greek, Italian, Spanish, and German).