The event was held bilingually in English and Slovene with translation from Slovene to English and vice versa provided. The theme for the conference was "Deinstitutionalisation", a word that is difficult for most people to pronounce. Sometimes, it also signifies that they find deinstitutionalisation difficult to deal with. By the end of the 20th century, deinstitutionalisation became a universal policy of international agencies, such as the World Health Organisation, and the right to live in the community, along with others, is an important part of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
So far, these reforms in mental health care have taken place in most Western European countries. In recent years, many Central and Eastern European CEE countries, with European policies as a driver, have begun the process of transition to community-based care; this is true for Slovenia.
Many new forms of care have developed and continue to grow in the void, as the need for different types of support in the community emerge. However, living in the community poses challenges that may also perpetuate isolation, stigma and segregation. The conference concentrated on accomplishments in the deinstitutionalisation process, exchanging best practices, research findings and training experiences.
It offered a space for critical reflection and transformative ideas on how to overcome contradictions of transition, such as declarative political support for the deinstitutionalisation processes, whilst increasing the capacity of locked secure wards in adult and even children's social care homes. Challenges such as resistance in neighbourhoods, perpetuating institutionalised mentalities and practices in the community, and themes that arise at the crossroads of multiple exclusion youth, old people, parenting, alcohol and drug use, dual diagnoses, homelessness, and others.
Particular attention was paid to the alternative ways of managing risks without coercive practices, highlighting various European user-led initiatives especially peer support, peer advocacy associated with deinstitutionalisation. The aim of this theme is to identify best practices that create the conditions for transitioning from institutions to the community, employment supports that enable the transition from service recipient to colleague, and those best practices that support a person in escaping the world of diagnosis and errors into a world where recovery is possible.
