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Description
The capacities of regional services supporting the mental health of children and adolescents, as well as the care of individuals with mental illness from this target group, are insufficient.
We will increase awareness of the topic of mental health and illness, destigmatize the topic, support spreading of good practice and generally expand the services offered in the Pilsen Region.
We will organize educational, preventive and destigmatizing activities for students in schools in order to increase mental health awareness and contribute to the destigmatization of people with experience of mental illness.
We will provide comprehensive education of pedagogical staff and people working with children and adolescents with an emphasis on primary prevention in the field of mental health and destigmatization of the topic of mental illness in cooperation with the project partner " Regional Centre for Education and Language School with the right to a state language exam, Plzeň, sady 5. května 42”.
We will increase the efficiency of the existing counselling and therapeutic services of the Psychological Counselling Centre at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen by expanding consultation hours and introducing new methods and approaches (e.g. crisis chat, email counselling, recovery approach). This will make the counselling centre low threshold in terms of availability and anonymity.
All activities of the project are interconnected in order to create an effective and functional system of preventive support for children and adolescents in the field of mental health and strengthen the services offered in the Pilsen region with an emphasis on the development of a healthy non-stigmatizing society.
Summary of project results
Due to the growing number of mental health problems and illnesses among children and adolescents, the project activities were focused on these topics. To understand the target group''s actions, the project involved student peer assistants. The project trained professional workers and learned how to work with a specific group. The project focused on working with adolescents with mental difficulties and their support at school and involved experts from social and health services and counsellors from the school environment.
As part of the project, the project focused on supporting teenagers who suffer from mental difficulties/mental illness. The main goal was to prevent the escalation or chronification of these difficulties. Therefore, a prevention program for schools has been created that combines the topic of mental health with an emphasis on coping strategies and at the same time has a motivational component so that students do not drop out of their studies. The project also focused on pedagogical staff, for whom a comprehensive program was compiled with the aim of training themfor work with students with mental illness. To better understand the needs of the target group, the project worked with peer assistants. The activities were focused on the development of prevention and counseling, which perceive to be very important in the school environment. If a teacher or counsellor is well trained to work with this target group, he/ she is able to detect difficulties in time and direct the pupil/student to the necessary support.
The project supported a total of 384 people, of which 184 were counseling and teaching staff. 4 schools and their teaching staff were supported, according to their individual needs.
1 comprehensive program – Div_nej workshop. 1 comprehensive 40-hour course for educators. 1 library for teaching staff, 8 educational materials. Counseling at University – chat counseling, self-help group, support group, peer program. Handbooks School with a healthy soul, When the soul is not a stigma, social networks div_nej.
Educational programs have been developed, both for children and adolescents, as well as for teaching and counseling staff, which support the early detection of mental health problems. In this way, the project prevents the escalation of mental problems. Through counselling services, the project will provide students with a space to share their problems. By training teaching staff on how to support pupils with mental issues, the project helps the staff themselves in burnout prevention and in next professional development.