Eighteen medical and non-medical staff (psychologists, prison doctors, teaching staff, etc.) from Baku pilot prisons Nos. 1, 4 and 16 attended an online workshop on mental health care organised on 6 October 2021.

The participants of the workshop tackled issues related to self-harm and suicide in prisons, the work with personality disorders, treatment of trauma and drafting treatment plans for offenders. By applying mental healthcare's main principles in their daily work, trained prison staff is expected to bring changes of perception and behaviour while working with prisoners with mental health problems.

This workshop is part of a series of workshops for medical and non-medical prison personnel aimed at continuing to support the Azerbaijani prison system by improving prison healthcare, including mental health.

The online workshop was organised within the EU/CoE Joint Project "Support to the Penitentiary Reform in Azerbaijan" (JP SPERA-2), which is designed to promote effective prison management, health care in prisons and assist the reintegration of ex-offenders.