The prize was awarded during the event 'Days against Mental Health Stigma' on 20 October 2011. It honours initiatives launched in the recent years as part of an effort to fight the stigma associated with mental illness, a complex phenomenon that experts concur to see as the main obstacle against the recovery of people with mental health disorders.  

Ura-sevilla is targeted at both the patients and the therapists of the Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit. It comprises sections featuring informational and entertainment content such as: articles, interviews, experience, health information, stories, cooking recipes, etc, as well as a bimonthly bulletin.

The content is created and placed online by the patients themselves, as part of occupational therapy activities. Ura-sevilla was included since its launch - more than three years ago - in the curriculum of the occupational therapy area of Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit since its creation and maintenance require the operation of several IT programmes and a basic command of the Internet and email management.

Ura-sevilla was initiated with the twofold purpose of establishing new relationships between patients and therapists and promoting the social integration of patients. At the time, this type of occupational therapy support tool was a pioneer initiative and the first of its kind to target mental health patients with serious disorders. The regional Health Ministry praised ura-sevilla for its innovative use of ICT to facilitate the creation of new types of relationships.

The blog has already received almost 50 000 visits and it features over 500 articles.  

Background information 

The Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit of the Virgin Macarena University Hospital is specialised in medium and long-term psychosocial rehabilitation treatments and recovery for patients with serious mental disorders. It is part of the Public Health Service of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia.

Further information:  

• Original news article - Virgin Macarena University Hospital - Noticias (in Spanish)
• Ura-sevilla (in Spanish)