ENTER Webinar 2023:1
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Date: Tuesday 21st February 2023
Time: 5.00-7.00 pm CET
Let’s support young people's mental health!
Since March 2020 and the advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the introduction of measures to contain its effects have disrupted the lives of many people, especially young people. A visible deterioration in the mental health has been reported by health professionals, teachers and educators across all European countries. With many mental health services already experiencing challenges, the impact of the pandemic has once again brought to the fore the obstacles to maintaining the well-being of young people.
This webinar presented research results on current issues in the mental health of young people, exploring mental health promotion, prevention mental health disorders, therapeutic interventions and social support. Following on from the findings, the webinar provided participants the opportunity to present their experiences and discuss solutions under development in the areas of young people's mental health. We saw no shortage of innovation among young people, especially in social networks.
This webinar had a special focus on caring for the mental health of young people, it explored current affairs in Europe and proposed actions in different settings to promote and to care for the good mental health and well-being of young people.
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Speaker recordings:
1. Eija Paavlinen, PhD. Professor in Nursing, Dept of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University Finland.
"An overview of the maltreatment of young people in the Europe context, working with the family using a digital application (The ERICA Project)."
The presentation examines the mental health of children and young people and its challenges recently. The family's risk conditions are presented based on research evidence, from the perspective of child maltreatment prevention (https://www.hotus.fi/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/hoitosuositus-lasten-kaltoinkohtelu-eng-web.pdf)
Mental health problems within the family are also connected to maltreatment, as a risk factor. The presentation describes a mobile application that brings forward the family's worries and risk conditions. Parents can fill it out and based on that, the family's worries can be discussed with a child and family professional. This offers possibilities to support the family, and to prevent child maltreatment and promote mental health of children and adolescents.
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2. Evanthia Sakellari, PhD. Associate Professor, Department of Public and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of West Attica
"Enhancing the competencies needed at school using digital methods. The Well@School project "
School-based health promotion programmes can reach all groups of children and young people. Early health promotion interventions can positively affect and prevent the onset of mental disorders. Mental health promotion should be integrated in health promotion initiates in school settings. School professionals face the challenges related to the mental well-being of school children in their daily work. However, literature supports that school-professionals lack knowledge and feel unprepared to promote mental health in the school environment. In addition, in the new era of digitalization, it seems that digital methods can be effective tools in mental promotion interventions. Therefore, the Well@School project (https://wellatschool.turkuamk.fi/) has been developed to address these challenges. It is a three-year Erasmus+ funded project, with the aim to ensure that school teachers, health professionals and all professionals involved in the primary school settings, have the competences required for promoting mental health in school communities, using digital methods. The outcomes of the Well@School project, which will be freely available to all interested stakeholders, include: a) a framework which includes the most up-to-date and the best knowledge and practices related to the promotion of mental health in primary schools focusing on digital methods, b) an online course which is developed based on the needs of the professionals working at schools and with the schools, and c) an e-learning platform consisting of the Well@School framework, the online course and a handbook.
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3. Panagiotis Chondros, PhD. MHPSS Manager for Doctors of the World Germany in Ukraine..
"The HOME PROJECT: Taking care and promoting the mental health of unaccompanied children in Greece"
This presentation explores a case study of psychosocial support of unaccompanied minor refugees (UAM) and asylum seekers in Athens, Greece. After describing the current context and efforts at a national level to improve mental health of children and adolescents without a supportive family system, we will see how the socio -ecological approach, as suggested by Bronfenbrenner, can be applied in the field of Child Protection in a specific organization. “The Home Project”, based in Athens, operates 14 Shelters for children from 5 to 18 years old. It has supported more than 900 UAMs from 21 different countries of origin and different legal status between 2016 and 2022. The presentation will discuss how we can create enabling and safe environments that promote child development and psychosocial wellbeing.
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4. Chrysanthi Tatsi, Sociologist, MPH, Mental Health Program Manager, SOS Children’s Villages Greece.
"Promoting and Improving the mental health of Unaccompanied Children (UAC) in Greece, challenges, and good practices"
The SOS Children’s Villages Greece in collaboration with the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors (SSPUAM) developed the Mental Health Hub project with the aim to serve as a pillar for the promotion and improvement of Unaccompanied Minors’ Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) through trauma-focused interventions, resilience-building techniques, and stress relief activities. Moreover, targeted capacity building training and clinical supervision to professionals working in shelters, aim in contributing to the mental stress alleviation, develop further their professional skills, and become better equipped for supporting vulnerable population.
Specifically, the development of a project with multi-level approach shall secure an effective mental health care to children being on the move, as well as adequate support to professionals that are in direct contact with the population. The project targets rely on the three main pillars of support:
Level 1: Capacity building of professionals and awareness raising on MHPSS to professionals working in Shelters for UACs
Level 2: Provision of clinical supervision to professionals working in shelters for UACs
Level 3: Targeted provision of access to specialized mental health services for UACs
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Keynote Speaker Bios
Eija Paavilainen
PhD, Professor, Tampere University, Faculty of Social Sciences/Health Sciences - Finland
Eija has also a research position in Etelä-Pohjanmaa Hospital District, from 2002. Her main research and expertise areas concern families with children in challenging life situations and families as clients in social and health care settings. Her largest research projects concern family violence, child maltreatment, and family risks, and care services for families with children. Those research projects are or have been funded by Academy of Finland, Boards of Hospital Districts, Ministry for Social Affairs and Health, Finland, and European Union (ERICA PROJECT 2019-2021). She has over 200 conference presentations and over 250 scientific and other publications.
Evanthia Sakellari
PhD. Associate Professor, Laboratory of Hygiene and Epidemiology Department of Public and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of West Attica
Evanthia Sakellari is an Associate Professor at the Department of Public and Community Health and member of the Research Laboratory of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the University of West Attica (Athens, Greece). She is also Associate Professor at the Institute of Health Sciences of Vilnius University (Vilnius, Lithuania). Evanthia Sakellari holds a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Turku (Finland) and she has long research experience on community mental health, nationally and internationally, which has led to a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals. She works closely with the Greek Ministry of Health in the development and evaluation of health education interventions in school settings. She is coordinator and project manager of Erasmus+ projects focusing on mental health promotion.
Panagiotis CHONDROS
Panagiotis is a psychologist and has a PhD in Community Psychology from the Department of Psychology at Panteion University, Athens.
Chrysanthi Tatsi
Chrystanthi works as a Mental Health Program Manager for SOS Children’s Villages Greece.
Chrysanthi Tatsi brings a unique perspective to refugee aid through her studies in Sociology and her master’s in Public Health. Being from Greece, much of her work is centered on the humanitarian crisis with extensive experience implementing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support programs in multiple urban settings throughout Greece.
Panagiotis is MHPSS Manager for Doctors of the World Germany in Ukraine. During 2021-2022 he was Mental Health Coordinator, member of the Child Protection Unit at The HOME Project, Athens. He is member of the executive committee of the Mediterranean Mental Health Society, was President of the Association for Regional Development and Mental Health (EPAPSY) (2006-2020), Vice president of the Federation of NGOs for psychosocial rehabilitation and mental health in Greece (2015-2021). As part of his work he has participated in national and European networks (European Network for Training and Research in Mental Health ENTER, European Alliance against Depression - EAAD).