The Jordan Nursing Council (JNC), in cooperation with the World Health Organization's (WHO) Jordan office, held a specialized dialogue session Tuesday to discuss activating the role of nursing in mental health services, particularly in primary health care.

Experts, specialists and representatives from the health, academic and professional sectors took part in the event, aimed to identify gaps, challenges and opportunities and produce practical recommendations for decision-makers.

Talking at the dialogue, JNC Secretary-General Hani Nawafleh said the mental health file cannot wait for a crisis to receive attention, stressing the need to build capacity "proactively" and reach people before their suffering worsens.

To provide better services, he called for shifting from delayed response to prevention, early detection, intervention, follow-up and continuity of care.

Building the future of mental health requires developing policy, regulation, education, competencies and the workforce, Nawafleh said.

He urged action to empower mental health nurses to practice their actual role within primary health care amid growing demand for integrated, community-based services.

He noted that the council, led by Princess Muna Al Hussein, its president, has taken part since 2007 in national efforts to strengthen and reform the mental health system in cooperation with the Health Ministry and WHO, which contributed to achieving national plans, building nursing capacity, training specialized nurses, supporting community services and integrating mental health into primary care.