This paper describes the history and current provision of mental healthcare in the Czech Republic. After the political changes in 1989, there was an expansion of out-patient care and several non-governmental organisations began to provide social rehabilitation services, but the main focus of care still rested on mental hospitals. In recent years, mental health reform has been in progress, which has involved expanding community-based services and psychiatric wards of general hospitals, simultaneously with educational and destigmatisation programmes.

For over a decade, concerted efforts have been made in Europe to reform mental health services and move away from institutions to community-based models of care, supported by international policy statements, good practice examples and research evidence. Progress has been uneven. So what is the status of mental healthcare across the World Health Organization European Region, and what factors support, or detract from, such progress?

In Eastern Europe, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is supporting various post-communist states in reforming their mental health systems to ensure equal access to high-quality services in community-based settings. The approach and new care models introduced have proven successful in most of these countries, one of which is Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This paper is a British psychiatrist's personal reflection of the treatment of homeless people in American societies. Drawing upon theories of social distance, exclusion, discrimination and internalised stigma, this reflective piece suggests that homelessness is one price that certain societies pay to invest in the notion of individualised success and self-sufficiency. In reflecting on his own dissonance, the author argues that these societal processes exert a powerful influence on us as individuals, even if we as psychiatrists might think that our understanding confers on us a certain level of understanding.

Development of an undergraduate psychiatric teaching programme and curriculum is a challenge in the current atmosphere of increasing knowledge and vast literature. However, the curriculum remains the cornerstone for future doctors' development and career. Doctors need to have the abilities to recognise, assess and manage common psychiatric conditions presenting at different levels of health services. This paper aims to look at the current status of psychiatric teaching and evaluate the curricula through interviews with teaching staff, to make appropriate recommendations for the future. Teaching staff and psychiatrists involved in undergraduate teaching were interviewed using a data collection format.

Since 2009, Greece has experienced a long-lasting socioeconomic crisis that has had substantial consequences on the health and mental health of the population. Unemployment, financial hardship and income loss constitute the hallmarks of the socioeconomic landscape. Consequently, a substantial decline in health and mental health has been documented. Converging evidence corroborates a deterioration of self-rated health, an alarming rise in suicide rates and a gradual increase in the prevalence of major depression. Concomitantly, the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse and the mental healthcare system is incapable of addressing the emerging needs. Therefore, a multifaceted and concerted effort is urgently needed to mitigate the mental health effects of the recession.

Mental health service provision for youth within the juvenile justice system remains a topic of contemporary global discourse. To bring perspectives from under-resourced regions, we examine the current limitations of some globalised models for mental health services within the juvenile justice system in Nigeria. The important multi-systemic steps needed to reposition the system for modern mental health promotion and services are highlighted.