Study visit of Baltic States delegation to Copenhagen to exchange practice in field of mental health and substance use

On June 6-7th, 2023, the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian delegation visited Copenhagen where had the opportunity to get acquainted with Denmark's experience in field of mental health and substance use. The study visit was organized under the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Public Administration and hosted by the Ministry of The Interior and Health of Denmark.

During the first half of day 1 of the visit, speakers from The Ministry of The Interior and Health, the Capital Region and the Danish Committee for Health Education provided an overview of the impact of the Danish model for the overall care of people with anxiety and depression in general practice, the Collabri Flex interventions for depression and anxiety patients, also spoke about EU Joint action on Tobacco control 2 and Danish government initiatives on tobacco control. The delegation had the opportunity to visit not only the Health and Care Administration in the Municipality of Copenhagen and hear about the Quitline (Stoplinien), local initiatives for smoking cessation and linkages between smoking and mental health, but also visited Headspace in Gladsaxe. Headspace is the largest nationwide preventive and mental health-promoting civil society service for young people between the age of 12-25 who experience challenges related to their mental health. Baltic States Delegation also visited the Danish Health Authority, where they discussed Danish 10-year plan for mental health, Involvement of cross-sectional stakeholders, Anti-stigmatization, “One of Us” initiative and Mental health ambassadors.

This visit gave excellent opportunity to get to know the Mental Health model in Denmark, deepen professional knowledge, share experience and also establish useful contacts for further Nordic-Baltic cooperation. 

Knowledge received during the visit will be used for development of the mental health system in Lithuania to increase variety and availability of services to improve mental health and reduce substance use, and will be directly applied to policy and practice of mental health in Lithuania.