2023. The Mental Health Starts Here cooperation day tour

One of the EHDR key messages is that mental health support services and activities at the municipality and community level have great potential but are underutilised in Estonia. To tackle this issue, the Estonian Cooperation Assembly partnered with the Ministry of Social Affairs to launch an EHDR tour across Estonia. This initiative aims to promote awareness of how the design of various environments can impact human well-being and foster a sense of belonging.

Mental Health Starts Here is a series of regional cooperation days, which was born as a follow-up project for EHDR. The project aims to gather representatives from various institutions and decision-makers in each region who do not typically focus on mental health issues or work together in their regular roles. Collectively, we explore the possibilities of preventing mental health issues at the local level by considering the design of everyday environments. This includes physical and natural settings, digital spaces, and the environments that impact relationships within homes, schools, workplaces, and communities.

A total of eight cooperation days were scheduled between May and November 2023:

2 May 2023 – Valgamaa, Põlvamaa and Võrumaa counties (held at the Antsla Cultural Centre)
31 August 2023 – Jõgevamaa and Tartumaa counties (held at the Puhja Community Centre)
20 September 2023 – Raplamaa and Järvamaa counties (held at the Lokuta Recreation Centre)
29 September 2023 – Ida-Virumaa and Lääne-Virumaa counties (held at the kood/Jõhvi building)
13 October 2023 – Hiiumaa, Saaremaa and Läänemaa County (held at Sõru Holiday Home)
31 October 2023 – Viljandimaa and Pärnumaa counties (location to be specified)
9 November 2023 – Harjumaa county (held in Viimsi Library)

Estonian Human Development Report 2023: Mental Health and Well-Being, published by the Estonian Cooperation Assembly.