Project SPOLU is an innovative platform, linking students of psychology and medicine, psychiatric patients and medical staff in psychiatric facilities across the Czech Republic. More than 250 volunteers are regularly visiting patients and organizing free-time activities, ranging from one-on-one dialogical meetings to various group activities based on expressive therapies (drama, arts, biblio and music therapy, relaxation, physical activity, cognitive training). Started as a small-scale student initiative at one of the clinics in Brno in fall 2012, SPOLU has so far spread into 6 major cities, covering 15 mental health care institutions.

Our activities help maintain healthy interpersonal relationships during hospitalization, serve as a prevention of social withdrawal and relapses, raise chances of forming a patients´self-help group and assist in the process of recovery. Patients often mention our activities among the most beneficial means of treatment they have received during their hospitalization. We organize more than 50 free-time activites weekly which reach up to 1000 patients monthly.

Extremely low-cost nature of our activities helps to solve the problem of underfinanced state of Czech psychiatric system. The collaborative concept of Project SPOLU is easily replicable and transferrable into other institutions, cities and countries. We promote values of equality, authenticity and respect. SPOLU empowers patients by giving them hope of possible recovery.