The Horta Sud Foundation, present at the commemorative event for World Mental Health Day

October 13, 2025 – Last Friday, the commemorative event for World Mental Health Day was held, organized by the Confederación Salud Mental España and funded by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 and Fundación ONCE, in which we took part to share our perspective as an organization rooted in the territory affected by the DANA that works to rebuild the region from a social standpoint.

This gathering, which brought together more than a hundred people, aimed to highlight the importance of placing mental health at the center of emergency management, under the theme “We share vulnerability, we defend our mental health.”

Her Majesty Queen Letizia opened the event, highlighting the role of Salud Mental España as a benchmark in social innovation and valuing the initiative to create Community Support Groups after disasters. She also emphasized the importance of reading to help young people express and understand their emotions.

The Minister of Health, Mónica García, also took part, stressing that “there will be no good mental health without social justice, because mental health has a postcode — it depends on neighborhoods, economic conditions, etc.”

After the reading of the manifesto, which called for human rights to be placed as a refuge in times of emergency, a discussion took place between Carles Coarasa Pérez, Managing Director of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation; Julio Huerta Balastegui, Director of the Horta Sud Community Foundation; and Rosa Conde Roldán, Managing Director of the Asociación Salud Mental León.

“The community asked us to take charge of the social reconstruction, to lift their children out of the mud. We knew the psychological and social impact was enormous and that we would need the whole community to heal that pain,” explained Julio Huerta, reflecting on the experience of the first year after the DANA.

In addition, Julio Huerta explained during his speech the Foundation’s involvement in the project Salvem les Fotos, an initiative promoted together with the University of Valencia that aims to recover more than two million photographs contributed by over 1,500 affected families, with the goal of preserving the collective memory and emotional heritage of the region.

In this regard, he recalled that every action carried out should consider whether it contributes to improving mental health, as demonstrated by projects such as Salvem les Fotos, the Wellbeing Project, focused on supporting vulnerable groups, or the Community Space and the project grant program, which foster social cohesion, care, accompaniment, and healthy habits in the territory.

The commemorative event, which concluded with a performance by Valencian artist La Maria with a song paying tribute to the victims of the DANA, highlighted the shared vulnerability in an interconnected world and the need to face future challenges in mental health and wellbeing collectively.

In this regard, from the Horta Sud Foundation we want to underline the correlation between the most vulnerable groups —such as women, migrants, the LGTBIQ+ community, and the elderly— and mental health issues, and we reaffirm the fundamental role of community associations as a tool to provide a collective and transformative response to these challenges.

We would also like to stress the need to place mental health at the center of all public policies, since soft policies —those that focus on care, coexistence, and emotional wellbeing— are equally essential for the recovery of the territory.