“They say: there is a psychologist. But I'm not crazy, going to the psychologist. You have to tell me: come, I'll listen to you. If you want to publicize it you have to say: there is a place where we listen to you. It's very different, because a person wants to be listened to, not cared for."
This is how Aurora describes her experience “peer education” which he has been leading for a couple of years together with the other students of two Roman high schools, Seneca and Dante. It is a project born from the collaboration between the mental health department of ASL Roma 1, the Di Liegro Foundation and the Harcourt Foundation.
“Peer education” is a prevention and health promotion strategy that is spreading in various countries. Students, teachers and psychologists work together with the aim of helping children find psycho-physical and relational well-being, made up of self-esteem, trust, friendship and a sense of security. What they are looking for, often without having a clear understanding, but struggle to find in the group, in the class, in the school. Overcoming the malaise that you experience in adolescence is easier if your peers, appropriately trained, help you. Guys who share your experiences. They become your tutors and lead you towards a path of psychological support.
Every week a listening desk is open at school, with a psychologist expert in developmental age. To book a meeting there is a blank sheet of paper on which the kids can also put a nickname, or just a sign. Because, explains Sofia, one is ashamed to ask for psychological help, in front of friends and even in the family.
For psychologists and teachers the balance of these two years is decidedly positive. The kids who participated in the project have grown and matured. They have become much more aware of issues that concern them, such as cannabis, smoking, alcohol, bullying. Their behaviors have also changed; they are more autonomous, freer, less influenced by negative stimuli that can derive from the peer group.
Everyone agrees that it is an experience to be continued and extended to parents.
