Description
Mental health problems globally show an upward trend. In Estonia mental health disorders occurs in 10-20% of youth and suicide rate is above the EU average. The aim of the project is to improve the quality and attractiveness of mental health-related web-based information channels (1 new web-portal), quality and scope of counselling services for children and youth (670 boys, 1000 girls), and awareness among children, adolescents, parents and specialists. Web-based applications will increase the availability of mental health services due to their cost -effective nature and independence of the service user's geographical location, transport connections and life arrangement. Along with the main activities of the project, an extensive dissemination activities and outcome evaluation (usage statistics of the web portal, focus group interviews, the number of counselled persons, number of media editions etc.) will take place. Donor partner is Arkimedes Norway (Svein Overland) and its role is to develop the concept of an application for smartphones; developing and adjusting the smartphone application and evaluating the project according to the evaluation plan.
Summary of project results
Availability of health services is different in the different regions and opportunities to receive counseling and treatment often depends on the family residence and socio-economic status. The main objective of the project was to improve the quality and attractiveness of web-based counselling for children and adolescents. Web-based counseling for young people is free of charge and is independent of the residence. Planned and achieved results: - new informative web-portal on mental health and life-style issues:
www.enesetunne.ee (Estonian and Russian). - web-based counseling service environments are developed- noored.alkoinfo.ee and
www.saeioleyksi.ee - network of different web-based counsellors is organised - counseling competence is increased by continuous training and supervisions - 4 interactive and innovative šelf-help smartphone applications for youth for promoting healthy behavioural choices, prventing common mental health problems, screening/evaluating the mental health status and stopping impulsive actions are developed. Don´t do it; Do it like this; Sleeping monitor and Deprest free. All applications are available in appstores ( iTunes; Google Play). - Guideline - Counseling bases for the online counselors has been developed. - 1855 youth (578 boys and 1277 girls) received web-counseling - 83 specialists participated in web-counselors trainings - aprox 700 school students participated in seminars.
Summary of bilateral results
Norwegian partner As Arkimedes was the was the pioneer in smartphone applications. partner's knowledge and skills were the springboard for all four applications. The first app is based on the Norwegian apps "Stopp bulimi" and "Stop šelf-härm" . Together they developed a framework for the next app "Do it like this", where Svein Øverland (AS Arkimedes) gave a great contribution, thanks to he´s experience in the field of psychology and IT. Through the partnership a number of new and valuable contacts, were made in Norway for future use.