Project title: Promoting Mental Health at Schools

Key Goals:

• to provide a systematic framework for the development and implementation of an evidence-based universal mental health curriculum in schools and to deliver high-quality training for school staff;
• to increase the mental health of students and teachers;
• to share best-practice and recommendations for school staff, parents, policy-makers and stakeholders on how to promote mental health in school;
• to integrate PROMEHS into national educational and health policies;
• to promote innovation in educational policies in collaboration with national and international public authorities;
• to develop an evidence-based curriculum to promote positive mental health at school.

The curriculum will seek to enhance the social and emotional well-being of students, improving their attitudes towards self, others, and learning, as well as reduce conduct problems and aggression, emotional distress and anxiety.

PROMEHS will provide high-quality training for school staff as one of the most impacting and effecting factors in mental health promotion in schools.

The findings and outcomes will then serve as the basis for national educational policies in the Member States on mental health promotion in school.

About the project:

Mental health problems among children have been increasing over the past decades. About 20% of school children experience mental health difficulties. Depression is portrayed as the primary global health issue amongst adolescents, with suicide being the third-biggest cause of adolescent death (WHO, 2015). Half of the mental health difficulties begins before the age of 14 years. This underlines the urgent need for early intervention, with schools providing a unique opportunity for the promotion of mental health of students from an early age and at vulnerable periods in their development. The project is implemented in seven partner countries (Italy, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Malta) with the aim of developing a universal curriculum based on findings and outcomes of research to be conducted with the aim of promoting positive mental health in schools.

Project coordinator:

University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy

Partners:

City of Rijeka, Department of Education and Schooling (Croatia), Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (Italy), Regional School Office for Lombardy (Italy), University of Malta (Malta), University of Latvia (Latvia), Regional School Office of Sigulda (Latvia), University of Rijeka (Croatia), Department of Education of the Primorje Gorski Kotar County (Croatia), Stefan Cel Mare University of Suceava (Romania), Regional School Office of Suceava (Romania), Patras University (Greece), University of Lisbon (Portugal).

Project duration: 15 Feb. 2019 – 14 Feb. 2022

Project value: EUR 2,012,927.00.

Financed under: Erasmus +, Key Activity 3.

Competent authority: European Commission

Official website: https://www.promehs.org/

Contact person:

Lana Golob
Department of Education and Schooling of the City of Rijeka
E-mail: lana.golob@rijeka.hr
Tel. 051 209 575.