On December 17, Red ISEM, a national Spanish platform advocating for improved mental health services, www.redisem.es, hosted a live YouTube webinar on enhancing services and care for psychosocial disability and mental health, aimed at organizations committed to quality and innovation in this field. This event, organized by Red ISEM under the ISEMconQ project, sought to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration among organizations working to strengthen their services.
During the session, the innovative online ISEMconQ platform was presented, designed to help mental health entities measure, analyze, and improve their data using a battery of indicators tailored to their reality. This collaborative tool enables practical self-assessments, result comparisons, and access to visual reports that support strategic decision-making. To date, it includes 63 direct participants, 5 strengthening plans, various positioning and trend indices, an operational self-assessment tool, and a technical document for policymakers, with plans to open it to the entire Third Sector by late 2026.
The event featured organizations like ZITEC and Fundación Argia, who shared their experiences and lessons in continuous quality improvement. Raquel Hierro Hernández, Senior Consultant at Zitec, defined concepts such as management, indicators, evidence, continuous improvement, and benchmarking, linking them to reference models and the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act), applicable at all organizational levels. She detailed types of indicators (process control, performance, and perception), provided practical examples, and demonstrated how measurement adds objectivity, highlights issues, evaluates progress and social impact, and aids future anticipation, while describing data collection tools for entity comparisons and identifying best practices in a continuous improvement framework.
Arantza Larizgoitia, Head of Quality Management, Knowledge, and Innovation at Argia Fundazioa, offered an inspiring reflection on transformation processes in this area. She explained the shift from quality as mere compliance to an integral approach based on the Advanced Management Model, centered on the user and consensus criteria with administrations, professionals, and clients. She described the evolution from “patient” to co-managing user-partner and from expert professional to responsible facilitator, strengthening client orientation and involvement in service design, while detailing participatory and activism processes (assemblies, co-management, Peer Support, and community action) that created a more inclusive, diverse environment and organizational change focused on recovery, empowerment, and stigma reduction.
The session was an excellent opportunity for Social Economy and Third Sector entities seeking to strengthen services, promote transparency, and advance toward more efficient and humane management. The network thanked all participants and organizations for their involvement and interest.
Here’s the full webinar recording for those who want to watch it again or missed the live event:
https://youtu.be/T4dirVQdRrM
All project information here:
https://www.redisem.es/2025/12/23/gracias-por-acompanarnos-en-el-evento-de-isemconq/
The ISEMconQ project develops employment maintenance pathways for vulnerable social groups and strengthens CEEIS, EIS, and Social Coop. I. Social 2024–2026, co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus under the EFESO Program through CEPES as Intermediate Body.
