From 29 August to 1 September 2025, Royal Thai Embassy in Copenhagen, in collaboration with the Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, organized workshops on family and personal mental health for Thai nationals residing in Denmark. Two experts from the Department, namely Ms. Wimonrat Wanpen, MD., Advisor, Division of Mental Promotion and Development, and Ms. Sasakorn Wichai, Expert Clinical Psychologist, led the two sessions which included an in-person session at the Embassy on 30 August 2025 and an online session on 31 August 2025. More than 50 Thai nationals attended the workshops.

H.E. Mrs. Suphanvasa Chotikajan Tang, Ambassador of Thailand to Denmark, delivered short opening remarks before the session began on 30 August 2025 by underlining the importance of maintaining good personal and family mental health. The Ambassador reiterated the roles of the Embassy that included not only providing important consular services, but also to ensure the well-being of all Thai nationals living in Denmark, which served as the rationale behind the workshops.

In addition to the weekend workshops, the Ambassador and the experts from Thailand met and consulted with Professor Morten Sodeman, a clinical professor from University of Southern Denmark (SDU) who specialized in language, cultural, and structural barriers in somatic and mental healthcare, to learn more about Danish contexts that hindered Thai nationals from seeking proper mental healthcare in Denmark. They also visited the office of Head Space Denmark, an NGO which provides free non-clinical consultation for youths from the ages of 12 – 25 years old by volunteers supervised and overseen by clinical experts. The services provided by Head Space were to provide support and reduce the load of the existing clinical mental healthcare provided. The visit provided an opportunity for the experts from Thailand to consider applying this successful evidence-based model in the context of Thailand.

The workshops, which are a continuation of a similar project organized by the Embassy in 2024, are aimed to promote awareness about mental health among the Thai community living in Denmark. This year’s sessions focused on how to create positive communication between Thai mothers and their children, a topic that the Thai community had requested, and how to take care of one’s own personal mental health, which were both well-received by the attendees.