Message from the President

Since 2017, the National Federation for Mental Health has brought together what had for far too long remained scattered and silent: associations of parents and friends of people living with mental health conditions, people who use psychiatric services themselves, and everyone who carries, day after day, the burden of an illness that society still views through a distorted lens.

Our federation was born from a simple yet demanding conviction: mental health is not a marginal issue. It concerns every Moroccan family, every neighbourhood and every generation. It was also born from a refusal—the refusal to let stigma dictate the fate of millions of people and those close to them.

As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, but also as the father of a daughter who is now thirty-nine and has lived with an intellectual disability since birth, I carry this cause in a way that reaches far beyond clinical practice alone. It has taught me what no book or training could have taught: dignity is not negotiable. It must be defended patiently, against the judgement of others as much as against institutional neglect. This responsibility, first learned in the intimacy of family life, is one I encounter every day in my work alongside patients and their loved ones, and one I uphold in the Federation’s name.

Our roadmap remains clear: defend the dignity and rights of the people concerned, support families, fight stigma without respite, and work toward mental-health care worthy of what Morocco can—and must—offer its citizens.

This trilingual platform marks a new step. It does not replace our work on the ground; it extends it: informing more widely, guiding more simply and building stronger connections among all those who, together, keep this cause alive.

I invite you to discover our network, our work and our advocacy, and to join us in a cause that concerns us all.