CONTINUING EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN MENTAL HEALTH: EXPERIENCE OF CARE PATHWAYS PROJECT

Introduction and objectives: The Care Paths project is one of the actions of the plan "Crack can be conquered" in its axis of Care/ Health Ministry (HM) in partnership with three public health institutions. This project assumed a link among institutions of the NHS, Public Health Schools, Mental Health and Primary Care politics and local administrations of the health services. The project aimed to provide training to all Community Health Workers (CHW) and one Auxiliary or Practical Nursing (APN) of each Family Health Services about mental health with emphasis on crack, alcohol and other drugs to 292,899 students. Method: The project was organized through the executing institutions, with an Executive Coordination for the implementation and execution. We formed teams to work articulately based on the design and teaching materials, the focus of the training was promoting reflections on workers about the theme and in relation to the possibilities of intervention in the primary health care. Results and conclusion: The project has produced educational materials, trained 187 counselors and 2000 tutors to act on 6000 classes to get the result of 292,899 students. The evaluations were positive, pointing to the need for training to broaden the understanding of the subject and allows the creation of a new look for the mental suffering in Primary are, identifying intervention capacities on health workers.