Tucumán province is bolstering mental health services through increased collaboration between its Ministries of Health and Education, officials announced this week. The initiative, backed by Governor Osvaldo Jaldo, aims to provide more integrated and preventative care, particularly for students with disabilities.
The strengthened partnership was formally discussed during a meeting led by Health Minister Dr. Luis Medina Ruiz and Education Minister Susana Montaldo, alongside technical teams and interdisciplinary cabinets from both ministries. A key focus of the discussions involved refining approaches to mental health support and establishing joint work plans to address growing demand, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Health.
Dr. Mónica González, Director General of Mental Health and Addictions for Siprosa, highlighted the importance of coordinating efforts with Special Education programs. “We met with Special Education to work with people from both the health teams in the Valles region and the education teams,” she said. “The goal is to articulate actions for individuals with disabilities in special schools, coordinating treatments, follow-ups, and avoiding premature pathologizing of situations.”
The collaboration extends to providing support to educators and school staff, with professionals from the Tafí del Valle hospital – including Dr. Cora Carrizo, Gertrudis Wilde, and Milagros Fierro – working alongside teachers to deliver preventative and community-based programs for families and the wider school community. Dr. Carrizo, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the hospital, described the comprehensive care offered in the Valles region, serving patients of all ages, including through the Los Menhires rehabilitation service.
“We are fortunate to work with an interdisciplinary team including psychologists, social workers, kinesiologists, physiatrists, and speech therapists,” Dr. Carrizo explained. “This is a handcrafted approach, built with creativity, case by case, requiring inter and transdisciplinary work.”
Viviana Nasir, Director of Special Education for the province, emphasized the continuity of this collaborative effort, noting positive results achieved since last year. “This articulation has been ongoing since last year with positive results,” Nasir stated. “We met with the operational area of Los Valles, where we have itinerant teams, special school classrooms, and an early stimulation center that works with Health. It is very important for people to meet and articulate, so the need arose to create working tables throughout the year to implement actions through coordinated work.”
The Ministries also announced plans to organize a congress on emotional education in the first half of the year, and are reinforcing technical teams to address problematic consumption issues, according to a Facebook post from Lv7 Radio Tucumán. The formal endorsement of the partnership by both ministries is expected to solidify interdisciplinary teams and improve coordination in response to increasing mental health needs.
