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GXC 2025 Online Virtual Conference - Mental Health Without Borders
From Harm to Healing: The Villa Maraini Model and the Humanitarian Imperative in Global Addiction Care
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From Harm to Healing: The Villa Maraini Model and the Humanitarian Imperative in Global Addiction Care
0.0 CE Hours
Intermediate
$99
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Description
At the heart of Rome stands Villa Maraini, the humanitarian center of the Italian Red Cross and one of the world’s leading models for addiction treatment, harm reduction, and mental-health recovery. Founded by Dr. Massimo Barra in 1976, Villa Maraini has become a lifeline for people living with substance-use disorders, combining clinical care, outreach, and advocacy within a compassionate and rights-based framework.
According to the Villa Maraini Annual Report 2024, the organization met every day more than 700 clients, delivered 365 days a year street-outreach services, providing almost 100.000 syringes, assisting 150 people in risk of overdose, and distributing almost 300 naloxone doses. VM hosted for 10.000 nights over 170 clients among those in alternative-to-detention and people in need for a shelter, and implemented more than 2,000 hours of volunteers training, data collection, and advocacy activities through the Italian Red Cross network and the International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies. It also trained Iranian Red Crescent delegates on harm reduction in Rome, provided humanitarian drug-policy training to over 50 professionals in Tehran, and supported the Kenya Red Cross “Harm Reduction in Lamu” project, strengthening community capacity in Africa.
This session brings together Dr. Massimo Barra, Philippe José Garcia, and Mauro Patti to discuss how Villa Maraini’s global collaborations—from Europe to the Middle East and Africa—have transformed addiction care through empathy, evidence, and international partnership. Through a live, moderated dialogue, participants will explore how the Rome Consensus for Humanitarian Drug Policy connects clinical expertise with social responsibility, and how Villa Maraini’s measurable outcomes can guide mental-health and addiction professionals in building inclusive systems of care that leave no one behind.
According to the Villa Maraini Annual Report 2024, the organization met every day more than 700 clients, delivered 365 days a year street-outreach services, providing almost 100.000 syringes, assisting 150 people in risk of overdose, and distributing almost 300 naloxone doses. VM hosted for 10.000 nights over 170 clients among those in alternative-to-detention and people in need for a shelter, and implemented more than 2,000 hours of volunteers training, data collection, and advocacy activities through the Italian Red Cross network and the International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies. It also trained Iranian Red Crescent delegates on harm reduction in Rome, provided humanitarian drug-policy training to over 50 professionals in Tehran, and supported the Kenya Red Cross “Harm Reduction in Lamu” project, strengthening community capacity in Africa.
This session brings together Dr. Massimo Barra, Philippe José Garcia, and Mauro Patti to discuss how Villa Maraini’s global collaborations—from Europe to the Middle East and Africa—have transformed addiction care through empathy, evidence, and international partnership. Through a live, moderated dialogue, participants will explore how the Rome Consensus for Humanitarian Drug Policy connects clinical expertise with social responsibility, and how Villa Maraini’s measurable outcomes can guide mental-health and addiction professionals in building inclusive systems of care that leave no one behind.
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
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Describe the Villa Maraini Model, including its 2024 operational outcomes and integration of humanitarian principles within the Italian Red Cross.
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Analyze how community-based harm-reduction and outreach initiatives, such as those documented in Villa Maraini’s 2024 report, can improve health and social outcomes.
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Identify methods to adapt the Rome Consensus for Humanitarian Drug Policy to local and international mental-health and addiction-care systems.
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Apply strategies from Villa Maraini’s international collaborations to enhance program design, professional education, and client engagement.
Educational Goal
Participants will develop an advanced understanding of how humanitarian frameworks, grounded in the Villa Maraini Model, can enhance national and international responses to addiction and co-occurring mental-health challenges through compassionate, evidence-based, and culturally adaptable care.
Presenters
Philippe graduated from Tolbiac Economics University and ESGCI International Business School in Paris with a Bachelor in International Trade in 1991. In 2008 he approached the world of addiction, first as a volunteer and then as a Program Manager for the Villa Maraini Foundation, playing an important role in the set up of the International Activities Department. Today Philippe continues to carry out his Program Manager function combined with the role of Consultant and Trainer for the Partnership on Substance Abuse (International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies, Italian Red Cross, Villa Maraini Foundation). Philippe has a wide range of experience in the field of addiction treatment, advocacy and policy, from direct work with Drug Users, to managing European Commission and United Nations international projects and grants. He has been working for more than 16 years both with beneficiaries and international agencies. Furthermore he has organized more than 40 Trainings and conferences on harm reduction and humanitarian approach to substance use disorders for Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies and NGOs, in Italy and abroad.
Mauro Patti, born in Italy in 1986, is an expert of international cooperation. Graduated in International Relations, has a professional background in human rights, advocacy strategy, development of social and health campaign, gained during his international experience within NGOs and public institutions.
He joined the Red Cross in 2014, covering different positions on international and national level. Currently he coordinates the international relations and cooperation of the Villa Maraini Foundation (www.villamaraini.it), the Italian Red Cross Agency on Drugs, managing international projects, advocacy initiatives on humanitarian drug policy and health campaigns on harm reduction worldwide. He's the policy assistant of its founder, Dr. Massimo Barra.
During his international career, he run training courses and advocacy projects in more than 20 countries. Mauro Patti is author of training manuals, articles, speeches and publications on harm reduction and humanitarian drug policy. During his institutional missions he had advocacy tasks and joined panels debate in national and international fora at UN and IFRC (NY, Geneva, Vienna), EU (EU Parliament and Commission), and Italian institutions. He's a co-founder of the Red Cross/Red Crescent international advocacy initiative "the Rome Consensus 2.0 towards a humanitarian drug policy"
Massimo Barra founded in Rome (Italy) in 1976 the Villa Maraini Drug Recovery Center, becoming one of the leading expert on drug and public health strategies worldwide. Over more than 40 years, the Centre radically increased its activities and services, becoming a reference organization in the field of substance abuse treatment as well as in the promotion of humanitarian drug policies. Nowadays, provides a wide range of therapies and services to around 600 drug users per day.
Barra is the author of hundreds of articles, speeches and publications on harm reduction, rehabilitation strategies and humanitarian drug policies. The main strategy of intervention of Dr. Barra consists of adapting the therapy to the subject and not vice versa. He was the first in the world to promote the use of Naloxone by non-medical staff for overdose emergencies. Thanks to this approach, have been saved over 2,500 patients in the streets of Rome that were about to die for overdose. He repeatedly intervened in institutional fora at the UN (New York, Geneva and Vienna), the Council of Europe, the European, Italian and Brazilian Parliaments. He was a member of the Global Fund Board.
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