Around fifty professionals gathered on 10 April in Manresa with a shared goal: to reflect together on how to transform practices, organisations and professional culture in order to move towards mental health care free from stigma. The meeting took place within the framework of the second Inter‑Chair Conference at UManresa, a joint initiative of the Mental Health, Leadership in Values, and Simulation and Patient Safety Chairs of the UVic‑UCC, all based in Manresa, with the collaboration of the Althaia Foundation. This year’s conference focused on stigma surrounding mental health, a persistent challenge that concerns both individuals and institutions.
One of the key ideas to emerge during the conference was the need for a collective and sustained commitment to transform care models and organisational culture. As noted by the Academic Director of the Leadership in Values Chair, Valentí Martínez, such initiatives “cannot remain isolated exercises, but must be translated into an active and shared commitment.” A commitment that involves re‑examining perspectives, attitudes and everyday practices.
The discussions highlighted that addressing stigma in mental health must be grounded in four key values: dignity, humility, empathy and trust. Dignity, because stigma dehumanises and strips people of their identity, and because respect is essential to ensuring safe and high‑quality care. Humility, understood as professionals’ ability to recognise that there are attitudes and behaviours — often unconscious — that can create barriers in relationships of care. Empathy, which is necessary to understand and support people’s life processes, especially in situations of vulnerability. And trust, which is essential for creating safe spaces where patients can speak without fear of being judged or labelled, and where professionals can act without a constant fear of making mistakes.
In this regard, the conference emphasised the importance of creating contexts of psychological safety that encourage dialogue, break silences and contribute to more humane, inclusive and person‑centred care. A challenge that directly calls upon values‑based leadership and the transformative role of organisations.