So where did this Prospect idea all begin?
EUFAMI was founded in 1993 in a time when the role of the family carer was ignored, and their needs where not considered by anyone.
EUFAMI brought together national Family Associations in Europe and together they began to bring about change at the European and National levels.
A first task for EUFAMI was to survey the existing national legislations in terms of mental illness and assess the needs of the family caregivers. Gathering this information was essential as it did not exist at the time.
One of the needs voiced by the family caregivers across Europe was the need for self-help support and coping skills. EUFAMI started a Family Empowerment Working Group and this group searched for existing options. Contact was made with one Ken Alexander in Australia. He was a scientist and a family member specializing in family education as a volunteer for the Schizophrenia Fellowship in Victoria, Australia. From these experiences he published a book in 1991 called “Understanding and Coping with Schizophrenia: 14 Principles for the Relatives”.
EUFAMI invited him to speak at a seminar in Ireland in 1998 and later to deliver a coping skills training in the Netherlands in 2000. The family members who participated in this training decided that this is what family caregivers needed: capacity building, training for empowerment and coping skills to improve their resilience.
This was the origin of the Prospect idea as we know it today.
