IN 2007, the League for Mental Health (Liga za duševné zdravie) collected almost three million crowns during the fund-raising Days of Forget-Me-Not, Oľga Valentová from the League informed the SITA newswire on January 17. Last year, the national fund-raising was organised by the LDZ for the fourth time, thus picking up the threads of its effort aimed at "diminishing the social seclusion of people with mental problems," as the press release reads. Part of the campaign was the exhibition of works by artists with mental illnesses called Views from Within, discussions with experts in various regions of Slovakia, a media campaign, and a gala evening, when the Slovak LDZ Awards were granted for contribution to mental health. All who contributed financially got a plastic flower - a forget-me-not.
The LDZ organised the fund-raising together with its member organisations and other associations and groups with the intention to use the money - as last year - to support projects, which help people with mental illnesses integrate into society, and to support community care such as protected workshops for handicapped people, protected jobs and protected housing, education and motivating leisure activities.
With Sk900,000 the LDZ will support projects of organisations and individuals, through the grant scheme Forget-Me-Not, Valentová explained. Details and forms can be found on the LDZ website www.dusevnezdravie.sk. Projects have to be applied for by February 17 at the latest.
Psychiatric conditions are the third most frequent cause of disability leading to job loss and receiving benefits, and they are the cause of 40 percent of chronic illnesses, creating the largest number of people drawing disability benefits.
