"Intercepting signs of distress and intervening in a timely and effective manner are essential skills for those who work with young people." He declared it today Rodolfo Lena, President of the Health Commission of the Lazio Regional Council, speaking at the conference 'Bridge the gap. Intervention tools for young people's mental health, promoted by the Don Luigi Di Liegro International Foundation, by ASL Roma 1 to present the results of the European Project YouProMe.
"This project - underlined Lena - was born with the aim of offer Youth Workers (figures who work in various capacities in close contact with young people) models and tools to intervene in favor of the well-being and mental health of young people. The Youth Worker is a figure recognized by European policies and a precious resource in our country too: a large number of people who play a strategic role as sports coaches, youth group leaders, art teachers. Often these are also volunteers, who make their skills available which in this historical moment have become even more important, given the dramatic psychological consequences of Covid on younger people".
"Adolescence represents a high-risk phase because identity is built in this period. The pandemic has had, and is still having, a strong push towards isolation among adolescents, even more so among those who had already shown discomfort mental. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, cases of depression and anxiety among adolescents have more than doubled. Access to the emergency room and hospital admissions in 30% also doubled, with peaks in 70% in eating disorders, according to data from the ASL Roma 1. Immediate interventions are needed at different levels, in synergy between educational, scholastic and social-health institutions. Lazio - concluded the President of the Health Commission of the Regional Council - is implementing a work to support and increase the territorial child neuropsychiatry services and more generally all the services for the protection of mental health and rehabilitation of developmental age, the only ones capable of having the necessary multidisciplinary approach".
