General

In this event, we will discuss topics related to the healthcare policy across Europe and dive into mental healthcare policy in Poland. In the first hour there are 3 presentations and in the second hour we have a panel discussion. You can join the event in-person in Krakow in Poland or join online via the Volt Europa channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8QrpYd_RpY

At the beginning of the event, Evert Jan van Hasselt will give a talk about how throughout Europe we have healthcare systems that can be characterized as "mopping with the tap open". We wait until people get in trouble and then we start to "fix" their problems. It is time to close the tap! For this we need to make a shift from a "healthcare system" to a "healthy society". In order to make this possible governments and healthcare providers need to shift from working for people to working with people. Because for a healthy society active participation of citizens is a requirement.

Afterwards, there is a presentation by Tom Kerssemakers and Thijs van Schaik. Thijs and Tom are setting up a ‘citizen science’ program for Charge: Research Platform Volt, which is an independent research institute affiliated with Volt in The Netherlands. In this presentation, they will briefly discuss the citizen science platform and present the initial findings of their pilot study which is focused on healthcare. The main goal of the project was to study the different types of healthcare systems on a macro level, compare those and investigate whether there are opportunities to learn from each other within the EU.

The final presentation will be given by Ushma Issar on Health-ing Forward: Reimagining Mental Well-being. It introduces an approach to mental health that shifts focus from crisis response to prevention. The presentation explores how cross-sector collaboration and policy innovation can create environments where mental well-being naturally flourishes, challenging industries to align financial incentives with positive health outcomes.

Then we will continue with a panel discussion with experts from Poland: Rafał Kłopotowski, Norbert Bolek and a third to be announced panelist. They will share with us the key ideas of the mental health care reform in Poland that started in 2017, which focuses on de-institutionalization, accessibility, and community-based care. They will tell us in detail what its main principles are and what it is like to work within its framework.

You will also have the opportunity to ask questions to our panel online via the chat or if you attend the event in-person. We will also try to make time for the option to ask the speakers your questions.

The event will be held in English. However, questions can also be asked in Polish.

We are looking forward to exciting discussions about the healthcare across Europa and mental healthcare in Poland

Norbert Bolek

Norbert Bolek is an expert by experience and working for the eFkropka foundation in Warsaw. As educator he conducts workshops "Together against Stereotype" for various professional and community groups and also manages the first and only independent facility in Poland employing peer supporters.

Rafał Kłopotowski

Rafał Kłopotowski is an expert by experience in mental health support working at the eFkropka Foundation, the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, in Warsaw and is also leading support groups at the Ursynów-Wilanów Mental Health Center. Previously, he facilitated recovery programs in California’s National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Ushma Issar

Ushma Issar is a policy entrepreneur and founder of Rypple, is leveraging international healthcare experience to transform health systems through policy innovation and cross-sector collaboration toward prevention-focused models. At Rypple, she's building a comprehensive health-ing hub that brings together policy innovation and practical implementation.

Tom Kerssemakers and Thijs van Schaik

Tom Kerssemakers is working with NLC Health Ventures to build healthcare technology startups from scratch and has a background in patent law. Thijs van Schaik is a postdoctoral researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, where he focusses on the development of innovative immunotherapies to treat brain cancer.

Evert Jan van Hasselt

Evert Jan van Hasselt wrote a book about what we can learn from ants in an ants colony. Ants don't have bosses, they don't use management systems. And yet they are extremely effective. Evert Jan discovered that for humans to cooperate like ants, we need different leadership: leadership that resembles how a gardener works in his garden.

Context

This is an European thematic community event of Volt Europa. Thematic communities facilitate online policy discussion, will be a landing place for many grassroots initiatives across Europe, support policy teams on all levels of Volt with expertise and writing election programmes, and much more.

This is the second event of an event series with European thematic communities, to expand their European basis. Join us every month with a different European community in a different country. This month with the Health Community (HealthCom) and in Poland.

Do you want to join more health policy discussions, stay up-to-date with the activities of HealthCom and are you a member of Volt? Then join us on Workplace: https://volteuropa.workplace.com/groups/eurhealthcom

Location & time