Ricardo Buchó: «Part of Mentalia's success is based on networking»

The mental health It is an aspect of life that has many facets. The culture of the society in which one lives, the dynamics of family relationships, the normal or abnormal functioning of the brain, the habits of people... They are aspects that, despite being very different from each other, impact our emotional balance and the risk of suffering alterations such as depression or phobias.

It is this complexity of mental health problems that means that, in recent decades, a model has gained prominence. of intervention in patients based on network cooperation between health professionals, including psychotherapists and psychiatrist doctors. In fact, Some organizations base their way of helping patients on this teamwork.. This is the case of Mentalia Salud, whose Commercial Director, Ricardo Buchó, we interviewed today.

Interview with Ricardo Buchó: how does a network of mental health clinics work?

Ricardo Buchó Vivar is Commercial and Marketing Director of Mentalia Health, one of the main networks of mental health clinics operating in Spain and part of the DomusVi group, which currently has more than 21,000 workers. In this interview, Ricardo tells us how an entity with these characteristics works, which provides coverage for both in the form of therapy sessions and intervention programs through the stay of patients in their facilities.

What is the variety of services offered by your clinic network?

Part of Mentalia's success is based on our networking model. In our centers we work as a network, offering the patient an entire itinerary of resources depending on the moment and need. therapy where you are, being able to offer you everything from medium and long-stay hospital resources to homes supervised. We are therefore talking about centers with greater control and therapeutic demand to resources with greater autonomy such as apartments. In this way, the patient can recover their well-being and autonomy with specialized and professional support during the time they are with us.

Could you describe the working model of your network of mental health clinics? What is the work philosophy from which you start?

At Mentalia Salud we understand patient recovery as a process of support and care. In our centers, the Person-Centered Care model takes on greater meaning in all programs, treatments and therapies. The approach to mental health disorders in our patients is carried out through therapies based on the empowerment of the person, in order to favor their personal development and that this contributes positively to the construction of their life project.

Given the expansion and reach of your state-wide network of clinics throughout Spain, how do you ensure consistency in the quality of services provided across all of your locations?

Working as a network and under the same quality standards allows us to ensure the most appropriate therapeutic treatment for the person's recovery process. Furthermore, networking facilitates an optimal recovery itinerary for the patient until their return to social and family normality, since Having different resources allows the evolution and improvement of the patient to be done on a schedule of resources, programs and therapies recognized by all our professionals in any of our centers, which undoubtedly impacts the success and well-being of recovery of the person.

What is the profile of the mental health professionals with whom you collaborate in your network?

At Mentalia centers we have multidisciplinary teams made up of professionals from the areas of psychiatry, psychology, social workers, nursing, doctors, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, sociocultural animation, social educators, auxiliaries…

After the pandemic, it is clear that the use of new technologies linked to the Internet are here to stay in the world of mental health. In relation to technology and innovation, how has your network of clinics integrated digital tools to improve patient care and monitoring?

All technological innovations are contributing to transforming the healthcare model and positioning the patient as the key and priority element, bringing out research in the field of quality improvement assistance. So much so that at Mentalia new technologies are integrated into therapeutic processes as a tool more than facilitates improvement in patient recovery, beyond being a digital tool that allows improving care with the patient. At Mentalia, the presence and daily contact of professionals with patients provides an essential differential value in the person's recovery process.

In terms of growth and expansion, what are the future plans for your mental health clinic network? Do you have in mind reaching new geographic areas or expanding the range of services?

Currently at Mentalia Salud we have a network of 16 centers and our growth plan involves continuing to grow in the coming years through residential centers, day hospitals, psychosocial rehabilitation centers and housing supervised. In addition, we also have a specialized intervention service at home that favors the permanence of people with the Disorder Severe Mental Disorder (TGM) in their homes and socio-family environments, thus promoting the development of their personal abilities, as well as appropriate lifestyle habits, promoting their social integration and autonomy, and therefore contributing to the development and improvement of their skills personal.