A seminar presenting the regional guidelines is scheduled for April 12th which will kick off the training of professionals
March 22, 2024 – Psychologists, Emilia-Romagna it proceeds quickly increasing hiring. Viale Aldo Moro continues its path to respond to the growing needs of citizens in terms of mental health, also through the training and specialization of professional psychologists within each house in the community by the end of the year.
In fact, at the end of 2023 the Regional Council approved the Guidelines for the implementation of the psychology in community housescreated with the contribution of experts from healthcare companies and the Order of Psychologists of Emilia-Romagna.
The Region is among the first in Italy to strongly believe in the establishment of this professional figure to support citizenswithin a context of valorization of the public health service, waiting for Parliament to approve legislation that provides for it at national level and finances its activities.
“In a particularly difficult context characterized first by the pandemic, then by the increase in the costs of raw materials up to the recent government cuts to the health service fund, we have continued to invest in staff – comments the regional councilor for health policies Health, Raffaele Donini-. In particular, from 2019 to today, the number of psychologists in the Regional Health Service has grown by 23%: from our experience it clearly emerges how necessary it is to work for people’s well-being and mental health and to do so by relying on professionals. And in this context, thanks also go to the Regional Order of Psychologists, which actively collaborated in the development of psychology and the various projects”.
The increase in psychologist staff
During 2023 they served at the Regional Health Service 725 psychologists, of which 668 employees and 57 scholarship recipients, as well as a further 152 outpatient specialists. In 2019 there were a total of 589, of which 519 were employees: one growth of 23.1%. The Region’s attention towards staff stabilization is demonstrated by the fact that proportionately the number of employees has grown more (+ 28.7%: from 519 to 668).
Training begins with a seminar to present the guidelines
The guidelines provide a regional training plan which will occupy all of 2024 and 2025.
The seminar “Psychology in community houses” aimed at professional psychologists working in institutions, which will be held on 12 April in the Aula Magna of the Region (viale Aldo Moro 30, from 9am to 5.30pm), in the presence of the councilor Raffaele Donini e di Gabriele Raimondi, president of the regional order of psychologists. It will be an opportunity to present regional guidelines and to show professionals how to operate in community houses with activities aimed at minors, adolescents, adults and the elderly. The psychologist is a fundamental figure within these structures and is foreseen by the reorganization of local healthcare which is destined to open up more and more to multiprofessionalism. Collaboration between specialists in different fields is also made possible by the new digital context and telemedicine, elements that facilitate close relationships.
The seminar will see the participation of the political and institutional component, strategic directions and representatives of different professional profiles and will start a training course which wants to grow the professional community of psychologists of the Regional Health Service, enhancing the building of relationships that characterize an efficient network.
To know more
Recent regional initiatives involving psychologists
A unique model for professional internships
In 2022, the training and professional process leading to the profession of psychologist has undergone some changes. As with other healthcare professions, in fact, the training internship is expected to take place during the degree course, and no longer at the end, in public and private healthcare facilities. During this transition phase between the old and new regulations, healthcare companies will find themselves having to respond both to requests for internships according to the new regulations and to provide continuity to post-graduate internships.
The Department of Health Policies coordinated a regional working group made up of the directors of the Emilia-Romagna universities hosting psychology courses, the regional Order of Psychologists and company internship managers. It was an opportunity to accompany this change and reduce its impact on companies, but also to qualify the training offer, preparing a single, homogeneous guidance document for the entire region.
Psychological services for pediatric patients and their families
The Region used the ministerial funds allocated at the end of 2021 to facilitate access to psychological services by younger patients and their families. The Ministry of Health has allocated 83 thousand euros to Emilia-Romagna to strengthen the psychological support activity of pediatric patients suffering from onco-haematological pathologies and their families, 498 thousand destined for counseling centers for psychological support for boys and girls between 14 and 19 years. The figures were distributed based on the population between 6 and 18 years old and on the estimated number of cancer patients. To these resources, a further 100 thousand euros attributed to each region were added.
For Emilia-Romagna it was therefore approximately 680 thousand euros used for 2022 (the same figure
has been confirmed for 2023).
In the coming years the objective will be to encourage continuity of care for young patients and
of their family members once they return home, improving the network between hospital and local area.
Psychologist bonus
In 2023, the Region was able to accept over 2,400 applications for a psychologist bonus using the resources made available by the Ministry of Health, which were renewed for an additional 380 thousand euros for 2024. The contribution, designed to support the expenses relating to psychotherapy sessions, it is mainly aimed at people with psychological needs also exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic.
Support for the local police
An experimental psychological support project for local police operators began in 2023, which includes up to eight free interviews with a psychologist, to provide concrete support to those experiencing stressful situations. Thanks to this experiment, for which the Region has allocated 30 thousand euros – 10 thousand for 2023 and 20 thousand for 2024 – a mental health professional will be made available directly to all local police commands through a telemedicine platform , reducing barriers to a minimum, guaranteeing the safety and confidentiality of the route. The objective is to offer an initial response to the demand for psychological well-being of operators in a logic of prevention and health promotion.