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Drawing upon the 27-year experience of GIP-Hilversum, GIP-Sofia has been working since 2002 in support of mental health reforms in the South East European (SEE) region. Originally established as a trade representation of the Dutch foundation, in December 2004, GIP-Sofia was registered as an independent organization working in the public interest, with its own board.

Given the region's history and economic situation, and particularly the historically inherited attitude to mental illness, the toddler's steps of the newly incorporated foundation were not easy. However, GIP-Sofia managed to quickly catch up with its EU peers, emerging as a trustworthy and reliable partner in many projects and a leading organization in a number of important mental health initiatives.

GIP-Sofia undertakes projects and activities that advance all dimensions of mental health systems and care, including:

• Deinstitutionalizing and transforming institutional care
• Empowering users, carers & professionals
• Engaging in policy development & advocacy
• Implementing anti-stigma and public awareness campaigns for people with mental illness and others.

The following are some of its key areas of work and examples of some of its main projects in the recent period. For more information about these projects, please visit our searchable projects database.

• Piloting Community Mental Health Services in a Bulgarian setting  
• The 3rd SEE Mental Health Policy Forum – Exploring the SEE Experience in the Deinstitutionalisation of Mental Health Care, Sofia

• Investment for the Future – Child and Adolescent Mental Health

• Mental Health and AIDS Program in Caucasus, Central Asia & Southeastern Europe    GIP-Sofia is the regional project coordinating body for the SEE region, responsible for the establishment, monitoring of the activities and supervision of the work of the three expert centres in Moldova, Serbia and Bulgaria.

• Institutional Treatment, Human Rights and Care (ITHACA)
• Mental Health Care In Transition: Supporting Local Initiatives in Albania & Moldova  Based on lessons learned during previous projects, we identified several critical fields where further support was needed in order to facilitate the establishment of effective and stable mental health systems in Albania and Moldova. 

To see GIP-Sofia Regional Board & Staff Members