Mission and Vision
Mission
Following recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO), at the Elisabeth d´Ornano Association we wish to foster prevention as an essential step for supporting health via initiatives that are basically applied within our scope of action—the mental health of children and adolescents.
Thus, starting from the vulnerability-stress model, which has allowed us to gain a better understanding of disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), we know that individuals with a genetic predisposition to suffer from a disorder will only experience it if a number of predisposing factors are present in their environment, and it will not surface if they are surrounded by protective factors. At our Association we want to foster a number of general measures that will act as protective factors helping to prevent mental disorders in children and adolescents.In order to enjoy a healthy emotional development, children need to have favourable physical, environmental and emotional conditions. There are even factors prior to the birth of the child which may influence its subsequent development, such as the parents’ emotional process before conception and through the first months of the child’s life (expectations of pregnancy, the division of roles between father and mother, reactions when it is harder than expected, the adaptation to pregnancy, the preparation for parenthood). Other factors such as the influence of women’s role in present-day society, the hormonal changes that a woman experiences during pregnancy, and potential difficulties during pregnancy and childbirth all test people’s ability to adapt and they may define the style of their approach to parenthood, which may influence the emotional development of children.
Vision
The Elisabeth d’Ornano Association was initially established with the intention of improving the educational and clinical assistance for patients with ADHD. To this end it purports to help in obtaining correct diagnoses as early as possible; to fight against the myths and errors about the concept and origin of ADHD; to rid parents of the feeling of guilt in connection with the disorder and make them responsible for and participate in the evolution thereof; to contribute to making treatments more rigorous and at the same time more customised and creative; look past the ADHD into the person and see all their virtues, abilities and talents; to support the comprehensive education and training of individuals.
From this standpoint we have a global commitment to raise awareness about the fundamental aspects of a child’s adequate emotional development.
The influence of parents’ ideas on their future child who has not yet been conceived, their attitude and care during pregnancy, mutual support between parents and how they handle the potential difficulties that may arise in the reproductive process, are some of the factors that may influence the development of appropriate early bonds between parents and their child, even before birth. Childbirth itself and the first moments of the child’s life, their temperament, their parents’ stability, their circumstances and their personality are aspects that will also influence the development of an adequate attachment, which will become a basic foundation for healthy emotional development.