Activity objectives

The objetctives are to provide youth workers with the necessary tools to:

• Promote mental health and emotional wellbeing among youngsters 
• Prevent from emotional suffering
• Address situations of suffering by providing safe emotional support
• Implement activities and projects that address young people's emotional well-being
• Understand mental health from the systemic and attachment theoretical framework

Description

Young people mental health has been a key topic in EU youth policies during the last decades. As the #5 EU 19-27 Strategy Youth Goal states: "A significant and increasing number of young people across Europe are expressing their concern at the prevalence of mental health issues such as high stress, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses amongst their peers. Young people cite the immense societal pressures they face today, and express a need for better youth mental health provision”. Young people are particularly vulnerable as youth is a crucial developmental stage where mental health and wellbeing can be easily affected. The pandemic has especially affected the mental health of young people (depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc.) and increased dropouts and risky behaviors. From this derives the necessity to equip youth workers, as key stakeholders, with tools to promote wellbeing, resilience and mental health among the young people they work with.

Disclaimer 

This training aims to equip youth workers with tools to promote young people’s mental health and emotional well-being, prevent emotional distress and understand mental health from an attachment- and systemic-based perspective. It focuses on well-being and building secure connections; however, please note that it is not an activity to address participants’ personal mental health issues or to serve any therapeutic purpose. It is an educational training course for youth workers in the field.