Open letter to NGO Anima Spajić and Šimun: Your intention is to leave Montenegro's mental health in the dark

Reforms and improvements in mental health in Montenegro after the tragedy in Cetinje on January 1st have turned out to be empty talk, and the government that promised them not only failed, but also lied, said the non-governmental organization (NGO) Anima - Center for Women's and Peace Education in an open letter to the Minister of Health Vojislav Šimun and the Prime Minister of Montenegro Milojko Spajić.

"We are reporting from the real world – the one that is not depicted by PowerPoint presentations, investment fairy tales and Twitter announcements. A world in which people are not looking for PR messages, but for answers, support and the truth. And you seem to be counting on the worst in us – that we will forget. Even the tragedy in Cetinje, the strongest alarm in recent Montenegrin history, did not wake you up from the fantasy of power and bureaucratic slumber. On that occasion, you announced reforms, strengthening care, capacity development, changes. Today, half a year later, you are saying – injustice and violence are common conditions, suffer silently within four walls because it could be worse," states the letter signed by members of the NGO Anima Ljubomirka Ljupka Kovačević, Ervina Dabižinović, Julijana Cicović and Aleksandra Kovačević, which was sent on the occasion of July 13 - Statehood Day.

They state that they were invited to a meeting in the Prime Minister's office on January 16th of this year. They came, they add, believing that the Prime Minister had invited a group of experts who had something to say and who also knew what to do after mass crimes that produce traumatic experiences.

"We later realized that we were invited only because the previous government ignored our request for admission. So, you received us warmly and we sat with you and presented our ideas about the situation, respecting the work of our colleagues in the field, because you had no suggestions for us. We had two minimal requests: one related to providing your ministers with elementary knowledge about trauma, because it is important that they understand that the healing of the traumatized also depends on their will (decision), and the second, which related to organizing a working meeting of all professionals engaged in Cetinje, in order to determine long-term steps in resolving trauma in Cetinje. The third request was visionary, it called for the development of professional work with trauma through a possible Institute for Trauma, within the framework of mental health plans," the letter states.

The NGO Anima says that they were informed about the development of a plan to improve and protect mental health, and that the members of that NGO were happy because, in their opinion, it was an extraordinary chance for the Trauma Institute to be incorporated.

"You will consider it, you promised, and the first proposal was accepted on the spot. Its implementation was entrusted to the officials, at the meeting on March 18.03.2025, 3, we submitted proposals for XNUMX hours of work. There was 'no time' for implementation. The rest was 'lost in translation', and we were forgotten in reality. And not only us, but also the treatment and prevention of trauma," the NGO points out.

They recall that the Ministry of Health then presented to parliament and the public a document entitled the Program for the Protection and Improvement of Mental Health 2025/6 (15.05.2025).

"A marketing product without reform content, without integrity and most importantly, without reality. In that paper there are no victims, no Medovina, no January 1st, no trauma, no minimum political will to address the problem of traumatic experiences, and there are no patients, no modern psychiatry, no psychotherapy in Montenegro," the letter states.

The NGO Anima told Spajić and Šimunović that their intention was to keep mental health in Montenegro in the dark.

"Literally in the dark: untouched by reforms, untouched by programs, untouched by real people. What the media is reporting about Dobrota these days (we worked there and know what it was like) is like reporting from torture chambers. A good part of it is your merit. The suffering of sick people is small, you put crime in their illness. You criminalize them, making it difficult for them to leave 'Dobrota'. That is the image of your Europeanism, humanity, ethics and professionalism. That is your successful work for the "Black Hole" (as you intimately call Montenegro)!

"For us, July 13th is still a holiday of hope and a moral task to stick to humanity and anti-fascism. Therefore, let this letter remain as a public reminder: you did not just fail. You – self-consciously – lied. Our collective trauma has a better memory, it cannot be deceived; it must be treated patiently and trustingly over a long period of time. And we have patience and trust, unfortunately, no longer in you," their address concludes.