Canary Islands launches adapted mental health training in two island centers

The General Directorate of Vocational Training and Special Regime Education has resolved to implement in the Canary Islands the Adapted Vocational Training itinerary “Social and Health Care for Dependent Persons in Social Institutions” intended for people with lived experience in mental health. The Resolution of October 22, 2026 sets its implementation in two centers starting from the 2026-2027 academic year and dictates the instructions for admission and enrollment. The agreement is published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 221, of November 5, 2026, within section III of other resolutions, starting from page 39924.

The decision consolidates a pilot project for accompaniment and peer support in mental health that was developed during the 2025-2026 academic year at the CIFP Felo Monzón Grau-Bassas, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. According to the background of the resolution, the experience received a positive assessment from the educational, health, employment, and social inclusion sectors, which proposed its consolidation and progressive extension to other islands.

The itinerary does not create a new qualification: it is based on the professional certificate SSCS0208, level 2 and Grade C, regulated by Royal Decree 1379/2008, and maintains the access requirements of Royal Decree 659/2023. The legal basis invoked are articles 70 and 71 of Organic Law 3/2022, which allow for offers aimed at people with special training or labor insertion difficulties. The resolution is signed by the general director, Carolina León Martínez.

Two centers in two islands

The itinerary will be taught in face-to-face mode in two public centers:

• CIFP Felo Monzón Grau-Bassas (code 35015875), in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
• CIFP Virgen de las Nieves (code 38017561), in Santa Cruz de La Palma.

The opening of the offer in new centers will require express authorization from the General Directorate, which will verify compliance with the requirements for spaces, equipment, and human resources of the professional certificate. The Education Inspection will assume the advisory and supervision of compliance with the resolution.

555 hours and groups of twelve

The curriculum adds up to 505 hours of the professional certificate—including 126 hours of training in a company or equivalent organization (FEOE)—and 50 hours of general training in Basic Digital Competence level 4, in accordance with Royal Decree 86/2025. The total is 555 hours, distributed tentatively over 28 weeks and 20 teaching hours per week.

The professional modules are:

• MF1016_2 Support in the organization of interventions in the institutional sphere (125 hours).
• MF1017_2 Intervention in hygienic-food care in institutions (100 hours).
• MF1018_2 Intervention in socio-sanitary care in institutions (100 hours).
• MF1019_2 Psychosocial support, relational and communicative care in institutions (150 hours).
• Occupational risk prevention (30 hours).

The maximum ratio will be twelve students per group. A shared teaching model will be applied, with two simultaneous teachers in the modules contextualized in peer support, and the teaching staff must prove at least one year of experience in the field of mental health. The FEOE will be carried out preferably in resources that attend to people with mental health problems, including the socio-sanitary devices of the island councils (cabildos insulares).

Admission and enrollment: three-week procedure

The offer is aimed at people between 21 and 55 years old with lived experience of severe mental disorder, without requiring a prior level of digital competencies or accreditation of disability. When demand exceeds the available places, a commission composed of two representatives from the ministry and two from the Canary Health Service (Servicio Canario de la Salud) will resolve the applications. Priority will be given to those who have not previously obtained the certificate, those who have not completed the itinerary, those who provide a disability certificate, and those who belong to the Mental Health Network; ties will be resolved with the letter “C” from the public draw on January 26, 2026.

Annex IV sets these deadlines:

• Pre-registration: from November 9 to 12, 2026, via the enabled computer application.
• Submission of the list of pre-registered persons to the Canary Health Service: November 13.
• Provisional list of admitted persons and those on the reserve list: November 17.
• Publication of the provisional lists: November 19.
• Appeals: from November 20 to 23.
• Final lists: November 25.
• Enrollment: from November 26 to 27, at the assigned center.
• Start of teaching activities: November 30, 2026.

An administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed against the resolution before the Vice-Ministry of Vocational Training and Professional Qualifications within one month from the day following its publication; regarding the final allocation, the appeal is directed to the corresponding Territorial Directorate of Education, between November 26 and December 26.

The itinerary converts lived experience in mental health into a professional resource and opens a path to level 2 qualification for a group with special difficulties in labor insertion, with a model that the ministry itself plans to evaluate through an annual report to decide its expansion to other islands.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, no. 221, of November 5, 2026, section III (Other Resolutions), page 39924 (official reference: no. 3811).