» Behind every great project…

Behind every great project…

…is a great team. Simple as that.

This post covers highlights from MasterMind’s first year of existence and sets the direction for the coming months.

One year of project

MasterMind officially started 1^st March 2014 and was kicked off in style (and with bespoke chocolates) at the first consortium meeting in Badalona, Catalonia.

From the very beginning, the MasterMind consortium has been a strong team with a big variety of expertise and good collaboration. During the first year of the project, these have been further developed and the positive outcome of the project’s first year review is a testament to the skills of the consortium. It is a true pleasure to be the coordinators of such a great team and project.

The marketplace. One of the most memorable events of the past year was the marketplace for transfer of knowledge between the 1^st and 2^nd wavers in June 2014. Planned to perfection by NHS24, the day generated valuable knowledge for the partners who were still in the initial phase of implementing cCBT for depression. Somewhat unexpectedly, and on a positive side, a number of 2^nd wavers didn’t simply opt for one of the solutions presented by the 1^st wavers, but used the knowledge obtained for designing and implementing their own solutions, completely tailored to local needs. In the end, the marketplace concept proved so valuable that a detailed description has been produced as inspiration for other projects or initiatives wishing to adopt the concept.

The protocol. The common clinical protocol was a the first year’s most important deliverable – and a tricky one. It had to embrace all the variations in setup across the consortium while leading to uniform and useful results in the evaluation. By starting the work early and putting together a team of the right people (Scientific Coordinator, leader of the evaluation work package, key responsibles, etc.), we succeeded in developing a protocol hitting all the right spots and setting the direction for the implementation efforts in all 9 nations from Greenland to Turkey.

Video conference & collaborative care. Today, all our cCBT 1^st wavers are up and running and the 2^nd wavers are following right behind them, some have even started including patients ahead of schedule. It is therefore time to focus on the video conference services to be rolled out across most of the partners. Because VC is such a versatile technology, it can be used for a great variety of services and setups in mental health care (from advice-giving among professionals to direct treatment of patients). The next few months of the project will focus on scoping these activities to ensure that the expertise on the subject within the consortium is exploited to the max and all partners succeed in implementing VC services that are meaningful in their local context.

Midterm Workshop. Last but not least, MasterMind will be opening up to the world in person for the first time when we host our Midterm Workshop in Odense in October. Key stakeholders from all over Europe will be present at the ETC conference and the sessions planned (including a keynote with the former Danish Prime Minister) are sure to draw a crowd.

Lessons learned:

If organised correctly, a marketplace is a powerful concept for knowledge transfer
It is possible to consolidate trial setups in a common protocol despite local differences
Video conference has many potential applications in mental health and thorough scoping is key for successful implementation

These were my thoughts on the first third of the project. What has been most important for you during the first year?

Mette Atipei Craggs, Region of Southern Denmark. Project manager and leader of WP2. Communications professional, free-time blogger, instagrammer, and iPhonographer.