Mental Wellbeing

Mental Health and Lung Conditions: Action and Awareness

Online
25/02/2025

Introduction


Join us from 13:00 to 14:00 CET on Tuesday 25 February as we raise awareness of the impact that living with a lung condition has on mental health and why this issue is a priority for patients and their caregivers.

This event is co-organised by the ELF Mental Health Working Group and Lungs Europe. It is open to anyone interested in mental health, including people living with lung conditions and their families, patient organisations and healthcare professionals. Patient speakers and experts will share personal stories and discuss future research priorities.

Our Mental Health Working Group was formed in 2024 to increase the visibility of mental health and how it impacts people with chronic lung conditions and their caregivers. The group is working with healthcare professionals from ERS Assembly 9 (Allied healthcare professionals) and its Psychologists and Behavioural Scientists’ Group to formulate a strategy and plan of action.

 

By attending this event, you will learn:

  • How living with a lung condition affects the mental health of patients and their caregivers.
  • The current gaps in mental health research and future priorities.
  • The activities and priorities of the ELF Mental Health Working Group and links to EU policy.

Programme


Please click on the link to see the final programme for the event.

 

Download the programme

Event chairs and speakers


Jean-Michel Fourrier - profile image
Jean-Michel Fourrier
France

Jean-Michel is the chair of the ELF Mental health working group and president of the French Association for Pulmonary Fibrosis. He is also a member of the ELF Patient Advisory Committee (PAC) and has been a speaker at the ERS Congress.

Jean-Michel is keen to raise the profile of mental health in people living with lung disease.


Ron and Maxine Flewett - profile image
Ron and Maxine Flewett
United Kingdom

Ron is a member of the ELF Pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19 Patient Advisory Groups (PAGs). He will discuss how living with pulmonary fibrosis has affected his mental health.

Maxine is Ron's wife and will share her mental health journey as a caregiver. Together, they will highlight their future priorities from a patient and caregiver perspective.


Dr Lisa Brighton - profile image
Dr Lisa Brighton
United Kingdom

Dr Lisa Jane Brighton is an applied health researcher with a background in psychology. She is based at the Cicely Saunders Institute at King’s College London. Her research focusses on how living with a lung condition can impact a person's thoughts and behaviours and the complex interventions in respiratory care, including breathlessness services and pulmonary rehabilitation.

Lisa has worked with colleagues from around the world to establish the European Respiratory Society group for Psychologists and Behavioural Scientists. She is also a part of the European Lung Foundation Mental Health Working Group and Asthma + Lung UK’s Lung Research Innovation Group.


Dr Eleonora Volpato - profile image
Dr Eleonora Volpato
Italy

Dr Eleonora Volpato is a clinical psychologist and researcher. Her work explores how psychological factors—such as personality traits, expectations, learning, and social influences—interact with psychological processing in those with a chronic illness, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She also discusses the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation and the treatment of anxiety and depression within these contexts.

Dr Volpato completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and earned her doctoral degree in
Integrated Psychotherapy from the Institute for Study and Research on Mental Illness, also in Milan. She is currently working as an Associate Research Fellow at KU Leuven in Belgium. She is also a Research Fellow at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and a Clinical Psychologist at the Heart-Respiratory Rehabilitation Unit of IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi.


Language options


The conference will be held in English. A live transcription service will allow participants to generate captions in over multiple languages.

Support ELF events


ELF does not charge for its events and materials. We want to make sure they are available to anybody who wishes to join or use them. To ensure we can keep doing this we ask that those who can afford to pay to make a donation. We are grateful to everyone who supports us in this way and helps lung health patients to understand more about their condition and have their voices heard.

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