Extending support to nurses in central and eastern European countries is helping to change attitudes, reduce stigma and offer a brighter future for people with learning disabilities. Jill Jesper reports on progress at a recent event in Bulgaria

The Geneva initiative on Psychiatry (GIP) is an international organisation committed to the reform of mental health care provision in Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States (CCEE/NIS). Set up in 1980, this non-profit-making organisation works within an ethos of partnership, collaboration and empowerment, to support nurses in their transition towards the humanisation of care.