HM the King Inaugurates and Visits Psychosocial Rehab Center in Ibn Rochd University Hospital, Carried Out by Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity

Casablanca – HM King Mohammed VI on Wednesday inaugurated the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center as part of Casablanca’s Ibn Rochd University Hospital. This solidarity project illustrates, once again, the special interest the Sovereign takes in the promotion of the health sector, in general, and of mental health, in particular.

HM the King took the chance to tour different areas of this facility, whose goal is to provide care for people with mental disabilities brought on by severe and persistent mental illnesses in order to lessen the negative effects of their condition and encourage their social and professional reintegration.

This project, carried out by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity for an estimated MAD 10.5 million investment, is a component of an action plan run by the Foundation that aims to support the country’s healthcare system by strengthening the current medical offer, improving access to care for the most underserved populations, and incorporating a complementary social approach in the mechanisms of accompaniment of the patients and beneficiaries.

This 2,100 square meter building is next to the Ibn Rochd University Psychiatric Center and has two poles: a therapeutic pole with rooms for occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry, and functional evaluations; and a socio-educational pole with a multipurpose room and workshops for cooking-therapy, plastic arts, pottery, hairdressing-aesthetics, and computers.

The goals of these thematic workshops are to aid patients in identifying their emotions, enhancing their focus, stimulating their imagination and creativity, regaining their confidence, taking part in their social and professional integration, identifying potential barriers that were previously unidentified, and fostering communication in a group setting.

The new Center, which also includes an administrative center, training rooms, rooms for physical and artistic expression, sports facilities, a library, a cafeteria, a laundry room, and reception and relaxation areas, enables the patients treated—an estimated 1,300 per year—to overcome the isolation brought on by their mental pathology and to improve their sense of well-being by strengthening their interpersonal skills.

The Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center of the Ibn Rochd University Hospital has 5 medical specialists (3 psychiatrists and 2 neuro-psychologists), 7 mental health nurses, and a support staff made up of 7 instructors in hairstyling, computer science, cooking, sports, theater, pottery, and art therapy in order to fully carry out its mission.

The Casablanca-based Ibn Rochd University Hospital and the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity collaborated to create the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center, which is run by the hospital’s psychiatry department in affiliation with “The League for Mental Health,” a mental health association. At the mentioned Center, 156 people are being monitored right now.

The creation of local medical centers in the Sidi Moumen district and the new town of Errahma, as well as “specific” local medical centers in the Sidi Othmane district (level II health center) and the Moulay Rachid district, were among the Foundation’s numerous medical and social initiatives that aimed to strengthen the mapping of the region’s health care offer (medical-psychosocial center).
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