EQUICARES Kick-off Meeting: Community-driven Healthcare Access and Mental Health

The Horizon Europe project EQUICARES kicked off on January 27-28, 2025, in Brussels, Belgium. Under the coordination of White Research, 18 partners from 9 countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, France, Ireland, Spain, and Germany), engaged in dynamic discussions to outline the key objectives, methodologies, and actionable next steps.

EQUICARES aims to enhance access to mental health care for vulnerable populations through research, community engagement, and policy development. It will integrate research to identify gaps in mental healthcare services, co-design solutions through “Smart Health Labs”, and assess the costs of policy inaction. Insights from digital ethnography will be compiled in an Atlas, while the Inclusive Mental Health Care Policy Dashboard will support sustainable policymaking with tools like monitoring, a Policy Handbook, and an AI-based assistant. Pilots in 8 sites across 7 European countries will address diverse socioeconomic settings and all major categories of people in vulnerable situations.

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