A 12 month long mental health promotion pilot programme in Hungary, funded by the Norway Grants, will finish on 30th April 2017.

To launch six community mental health promotion centers (MHPCs) located in various economic environments, supervised by one Methodological Center plus expert teams and carrying out studies on the effectiveness of the launch of the system. The final recommendations will constitute a basis for setting up a national network for mental health promotion.

To develop a sustainable model for establishing a national network of MHPCs; to map and record the mental health problems and the stakeholders of the area; to find and assess the local best practices; and to raise public awareness in the following mental health problems: depression, suicide, stress and dementia.

(1) Models for inducing changes in the knowledge and attitudes upon mental health in the communities were reviewed in a systematic literature search. (2) Based on the results, a model of mental health promotion centers was outlined for problem identification, stakeholder mapping, assessing local best practices, organizing and supporting local networking activities for synergistic effects. (3) In the new MHPCs, on-site TTT education programme and organisational development have been in place. (4) The activities of the MHPCs have been monitored for knowledge transfer and attitude changes in the local networks. (5) Based on the results, recommendations are being made for the national extension of the model.

The first data ready for analysis will be available by April 2017.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.