President Milanović Receives Croatian Psychological Chamber Delegation Celebrating 20 Years of Activity

On the occasion of its 20 years of activity, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today a delegation of the Croatian Psychological Chamber, an autonomous and independent structural organization of psychologists in the Republic of Croatia that takes care of the development, professionalism, ethics, legality and reputation of the psychological activity.

Members of the Croatian Psychological Chamber attending the meeting in the Office of the President of the Republic noted that the Croatian Psychological Chamber began operation in April 2004. Today it numbers almost 5,000 members including licensed psychologists and trainee psychologists. The delegation was comprised of vice-president Snježana Kovač, members of the Board of Directors Anita Lauri Korajlija, Ella Selak Bagarić, Svetislav Joka and Mislav Čupić as well as Chamber secretary Antun Pretković, and the adviser for professional issues of the Croatian Psychological Chamber Teuta Barušić.

Members of the Croatian Psychological Chamber underlined that psychologists make an invaluable contribution to various sectors, namely education, healthcare, social care, and their professionalism and ethics assure quality services for citizens and contribute to improved mental health and quality of life. Furthermore, speaking about their role in society they indicated that they are committed to increasing the number of psychologists employed in the healthcare system at all levels of healthcare as well as bringing psychologists back to the primary level of healthcare from where they were excluded in past healthcare reforms.

In this sense Chamber members expressed satisfaction with the announced healthcare reform which will enable better accessibility to psychologists’ services at the expense of the Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO). The services of private psychologists are available to fewer and fewer citizens, and mental health is a universal human right that should be available to everyone, the members of the Croatian Psychological Chamber noted.

Moreover, they expressed satisfaction with the larger number of psychologists employed in elementary and secondary schools in light of the fact that school psychologists are those who can first recognize mental health issues in children and youth, and react before they develop into more serious problems that are not solvable without clinical intervention. Today approx. 1,000 psychologists work in the education system, but not all schools in Croatia have the services of a psychologist.

Alongside President Milanović at the meeting was the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek