Introduction

1) Poor availability of mental health prevention and care in the Liberec Region.

The medium-term plan for the development of social services in the Liberec Region states: „…there is a stable provision of early care services in the Liberec Region. Other services are not yet available in sufficient capacity. The network of psychiatric outpatient clinics is also severely undersized in relation to the population of the region.

2) Insufficient care capacity.

This is also confirmed by the analysis (2018-2019 in Liberec Region) focusing on the description of the state of care for children with psychiatric diagnosis:

“Within the health system, due to the small number of health professionals and therefore the smaller capacity of such professionals in the region (long appointment times – for example, even 1 year), families with a child with mental illness or its manifestations are not given long-term therapeutic care.

3) There is no focus on services for the whole family.

Professionals outside of the health care system acknowledge that children with a psychiatric diagnosis and their families do receive care (not in large numbers), but the care/goal of collaboration is not focused specifically on living with the diagnosis and the impact on the family. The Institute of Health Information and Statistics confirms that in 2016, the total number of children hospitalized for mental and behavioral disorders was 1,043 children nationwide.