From the asylum environment to the community: Social Cooperatives (KOISPE) as a mechanism of social reintegration

Abstract

The management of mental illness follows the respective social perceptions of the time, resulting in significant differences in the definition of its concept, as well as in the model of the mentally ill. Over the centuries mental illness became synonymous with dangerousness and aggression, "threatening" the social cohesion of the community. The only way to manage this threat was to confine it within the family and asylum environment, in the fear of stigmatizing the family itself. A reaction directly related to the stigma that accompanies mental illness which is responsible for the phenomena of exclusion and multiple discriminations families are facing. With the implementation of psychiatric reform in the country, the care of the mentally ill is transferred to the community, aiming at their deinstitutionalization and social reintegration, while reducing the stigma of mental illness. In this process the role of social cooperatives (KOISPE) is decisive, because they promote psychosocial rehabilitation by providing employment to people with serious mental health problems.