EUFAMI represents the National Organizations in Europe that give strength to the families of persons with a mental health problem (users). The families need recognition by the authorities, national and European, and the professional caretakers as co-responsible for the well being of the users. Ultimately, when all the other actors in the organization of Mental Health and Wellbeing fail, the families are the last resort for the users. Families guarantee the continuity of care.

The Abbeyfield Society directly manages 145 Houses and Homes for elderly persons in the UK, of which 22 Care Homes and 16 Dementia Homes. It employs 1600 staff members for 2000 residents. The Abbeyfield Society unites 170 Societies in the UK and 100 Abbeyfield Societies in Canada, Belgium, South Africa, Australia and New-Zealand, taking care of 5000 residents in 450 houses and homes. The number of volunteers amounts to 4500 persons.

Similes is a not for profit organization (NGO) giving a platform of communication to the families and friends of persons with a mental health problem. Similes provides information to the families, to the authorities and to the professional caregivers about the needs of the families. Often the needs of the families are not taken into account because the caregivers generally concentrate on the patient, forgetting that families are the first source of (reliable) information about the mental difficulties of the patients, and that the families are the ultimate source of continuity in health care. I am also member of the management of the local Similes action group in Grimbergen.

After retiring from professional life I immediately joined Abbeyfield Vlaanderen as a volunteer and soon was admitted as a member of the Board of Directors. In 2013 I was appointed Vice-President. Abbeyfield Vlaanderen is a NGO, not for profit organization, promoting and organizing co-housing for senior persons over 55. Abbeyfield in Belgium has a unique proposition by having its residents organize their Abbeyfield House in all its aspects in conformity with a structure provided by Abbeyfield. Therefore Abbeyfield is directed at elderly being capable of entirely taking care of themselves.

Administration, legal, HR, government relations, membership director