Emotional wellbeing is crucial for a healthy life and personal development of any human being. Mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders are very common among young people. According to the World Health Organization, mental disorders are the single most common cause of disability in young people.
Furthermore, 70% of mental disorders onset prior to the age of 25, making the adolescent years a critical window in which mental health can be promoted, and mental health problems can be addressed.
Economical crisis, difficulty of entering the work force and uncertainty over their professional future, overuse of social media and lack of interpersonal communication, lack of self confidence and poor healthy lifestyle tend to intensify this phenomenon. In a not so judgmental society young people and unfortunately sometimes even their families are often being mute regarding their concerns, thus allowing mental health disorders to escalate instead of treating them. Keeping the actual issue to oneself of trying to deal with it “behind closed doors” is not a solution.
If left untreated, mental disorders can impede all aspects of health, including emotional well-being and social development, leaving young people feeling socially isolated, stigmatized, and unable to optimize their social, vocational, and interpersonal contributions to society. Addressing mental health problems early in life can lead to decreases in emotional and behavioral problems, functional impairment, and contact with all forms of law enforcement. It can also lead to improvements in social and behavioral adjustment, learning outcomes, and school performance.
Mental health disorders don’t just affect the people directly involved, they affect everyone.
Addressing youth mental health issues is one of the most important challenges facing our society today!
The main objectives of the project are:
-to improve the participants’ personal and development through an experiential path (made of teambuilding, workshops and role-plays) that will bring them to raise their awareness about the subject of the project;
-to let the participants explore and share their countries’ and local communities’ realities regarding mental health issues and emotional wellbeing of young people;
-to provide with methods, techniques and tools that will allow people who work with the youth to deal with mental health issues that might come up during their projects among the people of their group (recognition of mental issues and emotional first aid in case of need in order to prevent the issue to escalate until getting further help);
-to discover different approaches of non-formal education towards opening perspectives and supporting young people in using them to make a local impact;
-to strengthen the relationships and enhance further cooperation among organisations, strengthening the already existing synergies and expanding the network of partnerships and initiatives;
-to motivate participants to use the possibilities offered by the Erasmus+ Youth Programme as a tool for establishing and strengthening of human relationships and interpersonal communication, cultural understanding and raising the spirit of European citizenship.
If you have any questions regarding the project, please contact us by e-mail projects projects@inovacijubiuras.lt
