MARATONE · Mental Health Training through Research Network in Europe

MARATONE is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network proposal that directly addresses the need for high-level training and career pathways in mental health to increase the inter-sectorial and trans-national employability of young scientists in the academic, public and private sectors to meet the enormous challenge of the 2009 EU Parliament Resolution on Mental Health. The Resolution set out recommendations for a comprehensive and integrated mental health strategy for Europe. MARATONE is designed to address the biggest challenge to implementing this ambitious strategy: the lack of training for career pathways for young scientists in multidisciplinary mental health research.MARATONE is built on the innovative theoretical premise of “horizontal epidemiology”, the view that psychosocial difficulties associated with mental health disorders are not exclusively determined by the diagnosis of the particular disorder in a vertical, silo-like pattern but ‘horizontally’ in a manner that reflects commonalities in the lived experience of people with diverse mental health problems. Grounded in this theoretical foundation, MARATONE’s multidisciplinary network of partners will collaboratively develop methodologies for measuring the individual and social impact of mental health disorders, so as to create strategies for the social and private sector responses to mental ill health in the form of health promotion and prevention programmes, and at the national level, strategies for human rights protections in policies and programming. The consortium will provide young researchers with scientific expertise in mental health, as well as basic technical and communication skills, including research development and management, international human rights commitments, and commercial exploitation and dissemination.