Casa de Alba: Therapeutic community for severe mental health problems

The Romão de Sousa Foundation has worked for three years to establish Casa de Alba which aims to help individuals and families affected by mental health problems. Working within a relational-integrative framework, Casa de Alba has a multidisciplinary team which makes use of therapeutic community theory and a range of psychological therapies and psychosocial interventions including individual and group psychotherapy, occupational therapy, arts, yoga, psychiatric consultation and pharmacotherapy, as well as the encouragement of self-management in everyday activities within the house. The use of over 20 acres of outdoor space will form part of the day to day therapeutic programme with activities such as horticultural therapy, ridding, walking and sports. Supervision will be used to help the staff team integrate different modalities and approaches as well as to improve the service.