In recent years, the issue of "mental diseases" has been attracting much attention. In order to create a friendly society and remove the stigmation, at the same time, letting the public have more understanding and supporting this special group of people, "2019 International Conference of Community Services for People with Psycho-social Disability", sponsored by Eden, was held three days from 9/19 - 9/21. In the conference, Su Liqiong, the deputy director of the Health and Welfare Department of the Executive Yuan, Mr.Cheng Liang, the president of the Eden Social Welfare Foundation, Huang Liling / Su Minguang, the representative of the Taiwanese family's mental health education association jointly announced to promote Taiwan's mentally disability and multi-community support services in Taiwan society.  All the members hoped that the government would follow the "Parachute Plan" that the United States has implemented for many years.  When the mental crisis occurred, it would help people with mental crisis to solve their problems.



Huang Liling, the representative of the mentally crisis families in Taiwan, is also a veteran volunteer of the "Mentally Crisis Hotline" in Eden.  She has been involved in related field of support and service for many years due to her taking care of the sister-in-law, who suffers the Schizophrenia for a very long time. Huang Liling mentioned that she did not know the mental status in the past, not to mention the theorapy and treatment methods, thus has no idea of where to look for the medical resources. And when finally gotten the access to resources of medical care, the sufferer has already been ill for a certain while. Huang hopes that through the support of the community method, more people and families in such needs can find the help and talk in time.

Su Minguang, who is also suffering from Schizophrenia, shares his thoughts. Because of his strong interest in art, he began to participate the club of Live Springs in Eden. In addition to studying art creation, he further becomes a member of the home visit team to visit those who cannot come to the club because of such illness. Su further mentioned, by sharing life with each other through chat, him not only becomes a help receiver, but also transformed into a help giver.  Through the open dialogue, it offers the support in both sides. This kind of  communication is able to make up the missing corner in which medical workers, social workers, and psychological counselors cannot reach.


Liao Fuyuan, the director of the Living Spring House in Eden, said that when a mental crisis occurs, the parties close to the group of people are often in tension and have the difficulty in communication. Forced hospitalization is easy to become the only and final decision to them; however, once the choice's been made, It not only tears family relationships, but also violates the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Liao hopes through this seminar, the Taiwan participants can exchange ideas with foreign scholars and find a way to respect the will of those people in suffer to solve their problems, which is supposedly the true way of letting "spiritual crisis" gently fall.

Eden hopes to call on the government and all walks of life to adopt the US "Parachute Plan" and promote the community service model for people with mental crisis, giving this special group of people a more flexible and diverse choice outside the framework. Through the peer-to-peer, crisis relieved center, clubhouse, community hotline and other resources to form a social safety net, it hopes not only to accompany the patients through the predicament, but also to comprehensively explore the causes and treatment methods to truly eradicate the disease factors, helping the hard-working friends to move toward the goal of returning to normal life.



2019 Taiwan's seminar on promoting community service models for people with mental crisis, with the theme of multi-support mode and cross-border dialogue, invites psychology experts and scholars from Finland, New Zealand and the United States to share the related topics of "mental crisis".  It is expected that through the practical experience to create a more complete service model through multi-party discussions. Since 1997, Eden has been assisting people with mental crisis to rebuild their life and opened the first dedicated line of mental illness caregivers to provide consultation and resource links for family members. To promote the community service model of the seminars, Eden looks forward to gather more power of the community to connect with those who are nearly on the verge of breaking down and help them to live a stable life and return to the society.