Global Initiative on Psychiatry - Tbilisi
The foundation Global Initiative on Psychiatry – Tbilisi (GIP-Tbilisi) is a non-governmental, non-for-profit organisation that assists professional communities, NGOs, international agencies, governments, and other development institutions in the Caucasus and Central Asia to improve rights-based mental health care. The organization started its activities in May 2003, under the name of “Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry – Tbilisi” as a Regional Support Centre for Caucasus and Central Asia. In April 2005 the name has been changed to “Global Initiative on Psychiatry – Tbilisi”.
GIP - Tbilisi aims to work at 3 levels of society to achieve maximal effect:
Micro Level
In order to find innovative, locally appropriate and acceptable approaches to mental health care in Caucasus and Central Asia region, new, innovative projects and activities are sought and supported. Because of its experimental and piloting character, a proper monitoring and evaluation of results is strongly present.
Meso Level
Here the strategy is to challenge the old soviet model of psychiatry and press for more appropriate, human rights-based mental health care approach by provision of modern literature, training, workshops and conferences to the main actors in mental health care.
Macro Level
The main strategy is to influence the governments to adapt or change current laws on psychiatry conform to universal human rights and to modern standards on mental health and to push government to apply the laws and by-laws into practice; to support development of relevant MH policies and plans; to created the monitoring mechanism and supervising independent bodies for ensuring human rights protection of people with mental ill health.
To achieve the goal GIP-Tbilisi:
- Provides and shares with information on latest achievements, trends and directions in mental health sphere throughout the region;
- Conducts studies in order to envision and plan the corresponding interventions in different fields of mental health care;
- Functions as an organizational and facilitation centre for training programs;
- Promotes local pioneering initiatives and best practices via consultations and advices;
- Facilitates establishment and functioning of local mental health networks and coalitions;
- Promotes cooperation between governmental and non-governmental actors working in mental health sphere;
- Lobbies the governments for adopting and implementing appropriate legislation and policies and implementation of structural changes in the field;
- Provides lectures, conducts workshops and organizes conferences on various aspects of the MH care.
Program areas in which GIP-Tbilisi operates:
- Protection and Advocacy of Human Rights
- Child and adolescent mental health
- Forensic psychiatry and prison mental health
- Psychotrauma and psychosocial aid
- Support of deinstitutionalization
- Legislation and policy
- Promotion of Juvenile Justice reform
- HIV/AIDS and mental health
- Prevention of addiction
Contacts:
Address: 49A Kipshidze Str., Tbilisi 0179, Georgia
tel: +99532 2235314, +99532 2214006/08
e-mail: tbilisi@gip-global.org
facebook: Global Initiative on Psychiatry - Tbilisi
Psychosocial Service “Club Synergy”
“Global Initiative on Psychiatry-Tbilisi’ offers qualified, free psychosocial service on the basis of “Club Synergy” (Tbilisi and Batumi).
The methodologically the Clubs are designed to act as preventive-intervention psychosocial service, that is offering support to adolescents and youth, aged 14-25, when they experience emotional and behavioural (included addiction) problems, and their family members. The special focus is given to vulnerable groups as the conflict affected population, adolescents in conflict with law and under the State Care, etc.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, both clubs offer distance counselling services for those who experience severe stress, exhibit stress-related disorders, other mental health problems, above age 14.
Professionals of different backgrounds – psychology, psychotrauma, addictology, social work, general medical practice and psychiatry - contribute to multidisciplinary approach of interventions. Interventions are mainly transdiagnostic, though advanced, focused modules are applied to those who exhibit mental disorders.
Short psychosocial counselling method is applied to persons who suffer from the pandemic impact on their mental wellbeing.
For consultations contact us:
Club Synergy - Tbilisi +995 599 807 021
Club Synergy - Batumi
0422 24 36 74
Annual Reports GIP-Tbilisi:
Annual Report 2010: click here
Annual Report 2011: click here
Annual Report 2012: click here
Annual Report 2013: click here
Annual Report 2017: click here
Annual Report 2018: click here
The board of GIP-Tbilisi:
Manana Gabashvili, Chair (Georgia)
Nestan Duduchava, MD, Treasurer (Georgia)
Narmin Hajiyeva, MD (Azerbaijan)
Khachatur Gasparyan,(Armenia)
GIP-Tbilisi staff:
GIP-Tbilisi Director:
Nino Makhashvili, MD, PhD
Nino Makhashvili is a director of “Global Initiative on Psychiatry-Tbilisi” and a head of Mental Health Resource Center at Ilia State University, Tbilisi.
She has a medical degree from Tbilisi State Medical Institute, a diploma in Psychiatry from the Institute of Psychiatry, Tbilisi and PhD degree in Public Health from Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Nino has worked as a psychiatrist in in-patient and outpatient clinics. Since mid-90’s she had been involved in the field of community psychiatry and psychosocial work with refugees and IDPs, prisoners, victims of interpersonal violence, etc. Nowadays, with GIP-T team, she works on structural changes of mental health field in countries of Caucasus and Central Asia, also in Ukraine.
She is interested and together with GIP-T team is involved in deinstitutionalization processes in couple of countries, community-based service development, lobbying of trauma-informed and trauma-specific services, also in fields as prison mental health and forensic psychiatry, juvenile justice.
As an associate professor and a head of Mental Health Resource Center at Ilia State University she is involved in academic teaching and research activities. Nino is a founder and a head of Master’s Program on Mental Health – the 2-years long program for students from multidisciplinary background.
Her research interests include epidemiology of common mental disorders, systems of mental health services, human rights in mental health.
Over the years, Nino has been nominated and served as a member of the Consultative Council on Mental Health to the Parliament of Georgia, the Mental Health Policy Advisory Board at Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Georgia; also, she is a member of advisory board to National Preventive Mechanism at Public Defender Office, Georgia. She leads Georgian Society of Supervision and Couching. She contributes frequently to print and broadcast media as well.
Nino is a founder and an ex-president of Georgian Society of Psychotrauma (GSP) that is a member society of ESTSS.