Roberto Mezzina
Roberto Mezzina, psychiatrist, is one of the founders, and currently Chair, of the International Mental Health Collaborating Network established in 2001. He is also Vice President (Program Development) of the World Federation for Mental Health.
Dr Mezzina contributed, as clinician and manager, from 1978 on to the experience of Trieste, which inspired the Italian Mental Health Reform Law of 1978, closing the psychiatric hospital and creating a network of totally alternative community based network of services. This is recently reconfirmed as a model for the World Health Organisation (2021).
In the Trieste Department of Mental Health, till his retirement in October 2019, he has been Director of a CMH Centre (for 1995) and of the whole Department between 2012 and 2019, as well as from 2009 Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training.
Pina Ridente
Pina Ridente is a psychiatrist who has had over 40 years of experience in the Trieste MHD, with specific expertise in deinstitutionalisation, psychosocial rehabilitation, supported housing and personal budgeting, women's mental health, co-production.
In her career, she has contributed, as an expert consultant of WHO, to several projects of deinstitutionalisation of psychiatric hospitals and start-up of community services, collaborating, within the framework of the support that WHO has provided to different governments, with: "Thessaloniki Psychiatric Hospital"; "Santo Domingo Psychiatric Hospital"; "Bolu Psychiatric Hospital" in Turkey; "Elazig Psychiatric Hospital" in Turkey; and "Bethlehem Psychiatric Hospital" in Palestine.
Currently retired from her position as Director of a CMHC of the Trieste MHD, she collaborates as a private expert consultant in international cooperation projects for the dissemination of good practices of deinstitutionalisation and organisation of community services.
Renzo Bonn
Renzo Bonn is a psychiatrist. Retired from 2020. He worked (1982 – 1999) in Men-tal Health Services in Trieste (Italy), in the last years as Director of a 24 hours Mental Health Centre. From 2000 till 2020 he worked in the Udine Mental Health Services as Director of a 24 hours M.H.C, in the last years as Mental Health Department Di-rector. He had a 15 years’ experience in the Juvenile Court in Trieste as expert judge. He had many experiences during the war in former Yugoslavia: in 1993 for six months as project manager for an EU humanitarian project in the Bosnian area of Brcko; from 1994 as WHO Mental Health consultant.; from 1994 to 2000 he was in-volved in many short missions (training and needs assessment) in different areas (Mostar, Vukovar, Kotor, Beograd, Kosovo and Albania) an in 1998 for one year was project manager for a WHO project targeted in the implementation of 9 community Based Mental Health Services in BiH (Federation and Republika Srpska); as WHO consultant in the period 2001 – 2008 he was involved in several short missions in OPT (Jerusalem, Gaza, Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarem, Ramallah) for needs assess-ment and (mainly) for training of MH workers.
Peppe Dell'Acqua
Peppe was born in 1947, psychiatrist, he was lucky enough to start working with Franco Basaglia from the early days of Trieste. He took part in changing and closing down Psychiatric Hospital. He still lives in Trieste, where he directed for 18 years the Mental Health Department.
Since 1995 he teaches Social Psychiatry at the Psychological Department of Trieste University.
In 1988, he published with Roberto Mezzina "Il folle gesto" (Insane deed) which re-flects the issues of psychiatric expertness, supporting program in the prisons and fo-rensic hospital. The text anticipates more than twenty years the urgency to over-come forensic hospitals.
He carried out scientific and organizative advices in various italian locations, in Eu-rope, Japan and Americas. He took part in conferences, seminars and technical in-spections.
In 2019, with Massimo Cirri - famous radio host - he wrote and interpreted the play “Tra Parentesi. La vera storia di un’impensabile liberazione”, “Between brackets. The true story of an unbelievable liberation”, a theatrical storytelling on Franco Basaglia's revolution, also published for Collana180. Over 5000 have been the per-formances throughout Italy.
He loves to tell stories to his grand-daughter Sara.