As part of the celebration of Roma Community Day 2026, our colleagues from the PsyNal Group at the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBiS), organised the event “Sastipen Thaj Mestipen: Emotional Wellbeing and Community in Polígono Sur”. The event took place on 14 April at the Factoría Cultural Auditorium in Seville, in close coordination with the Commissioner for Polígono Sur and Virgen del Rocío University Hospital.
Aligned with one of MENTBOX’s core objectives, the event represented an important step forward in promoting community-based dialogue and collective action on mental health, grounded in the lived experiences of the Polígono Sur neighbourhood.
A programme centred on community voices and local expertise
The programme was designed to encourage listening, exchange and shared learning, combining community leadership with professional experience. After a welcome and opening session, the event was structured around two complementary roundtable discussions, each addressing emotional wellbeing from a different but interconnected perspective.
The first roundtable brought together Roma community leaders, who shared first-hand perspectives on emotional wellbeing, mental health challenges and protective factors within the community. This session highlighted the importance of culture, identity, spirituality, role models and social bonds as key elements for fostering resilience and wellbeing. Placing Roma voices at the centre of the conversation reflects MENTBOX’s commitment to co-creation and meaningful community participation, ensuring that communities speak for themselves and lead discussions that directly affect them.
The second roundtable focused on professionals and practitioners working in Polígono Sur, including representatives from health, social and community organisations. Drawing on their daily experience in the neighbourhood, participants discussed existing resources, barriers to access, and opportunities to strengthen mental health support in vulnerable contexts. This exchange allowed for a richer understanding of how community knowledge and professional practice can complement each other to build more effective and inclusive mental health approaches.
Building bridges between community and care
Throughout the event, participants openly addressed key issues such as mental health stigma, coping strategies and access to support, while reinforcing the value of collaboration between communities, services and institutions. By bringing together Roma leaders and local professionals in a shared space, the event embodied MENTBOX’s vision of bridging evidence-based practices with real-world implementation in vulnerable settings.
Strong partnerships for community mental health
The event was made possible thanks to the collaboration of a wide network of partners, including the Andalusian Health Service, Seville City Council, ICAS, the University of Seville, the University of Sydney, Factoría Cultural, the Roma Women’s Association Akherdi, Asociación Entre Amigos de Sevilla, Fakali, Fundación Alalá, the Evangelical Church El Templo, the Roma Cultural Association Vencedores, and the MENTBOX consortium.
Together, this initiative reinforces MENTBOX’s mission to support inclusive, evidence-based and scalable mental health interventions, developed in close collaboration with communities and local stakeholders across Europe.