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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life in Europe and globally. The pandemic affects both individuals and the broader society across many domains, including physical and psychological health, the economy and general welfare. The measures taken to counteract the pandemic have significantly altered daily life and, along with the threat of contracting the coronavirus and uncertainties surrounding future developments, created a complex system of stressors with a negative impact on public mental health. This paper aims to outline the ESTSS strategy to address mental health issues related to COVID-19 and focuses on (1) trauma-informed policies, (2) capacity building, (3) collaborative research and (4) knowledge-exchange. To facilitate implementation of a trauma-informed approach and appropriate measures, ESTSS has developed a toolkit of recommendations on mental health and psychosocial assistance to be provided during the different phases of crisis and its aftermath. To promote capacity building, ESTSS offers a certification programme based on a curriculum in psychotraumatology and corresponding on-line training to the European community of mental health professionals. To assure evidence-based approaches and methods tailored to current circumstances, ESTSS has initiated a pan-European research project with international cooperation aimed at studying the mental health consequences of the pandemic, with a focus on psychological trauma and other stress-related reactions. To foster knowledge-exchange, the European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT), the official journal of ESTSS, is publishing a special issue on COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The major changes in mental health epidemiology and the new therapeutic approaches, including information and computer technology are major challenges for the organisations involved but also for a political public health strategy. Mental health care is based on the interpersonal competences of the professionals. Research shows early retirement of the staff and a decrease of motivation after some years of everyday work. The quality of work life balance is of the most importance for the professionals dealing with mental health patients and users. The academic cursus does not correspond to the fast moving changes. So it is compulsory that all professionals can benefit from practical and lifelong training. The shortage of qualified professionals is obvious for any mental health employer. A high level of stress and career burnout is extensively documented in researches and the early retirement of professionals causes a difficulty for the transmission of knowledge. Due to the gap between competencies of the young professionals and new trends in mental health, this project was of huge interest in the public health sector. This gap was the starting point for the consortium for building the TuTo project in 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]