The Di Liegro Foundation has been operating in the field of mental health since 2006, collaborating with public and private institutions in the implementation of projects, activities and research aimed at promoting psychosocial well-being, the prevention of mental distress and the dissemination of culture and knowledge of mental health. Over time, this commitment has focused in particular on youthful distress, organizing thematic training courses, emotional literacy projects and training courses peer education in schools, research activities.
The observation that mental health in the young age group, a crucial moment in development and for the onset of possible developmental difficulties, is in fact a topic of great importance and on which it is necessary to act in terms of information, protection and prevention, was further validated by2018 edition of World Mental Health Day, dedicated to “young people and mental health in a changing world”.
In fact, data from the World Health Organization underline that 10-20% of children and adolescents worldwide suffer from depressive disorders and that neuro-psychiatric pathologies are the main cause of disability in young people in all WHO Regions. One in six adolescents aged 10-19 suffers from mental disorders. Furthermore, 50% problems begin before the age of 14, but most cases go undetected and untreated. And again: suicide is the third cause of death among young people between 15 and 19 years old.
There is a real risk that mental health problems developed during adolescence may continue into adulthood or even become chronic (WHO, 2005).
From these considerations comes the Foundation's commitment to paying particular attention to youth age group. The actions undertaken have the aim of strengthening, through direct and indirect interventions, protective factors so as to prevent the development of mental health problems.
Projects and initiatives of the Di Liegro Foundation for young people:
In the context of European youth policies, Youth Work experiences have taken on a central and increasingly better defined dimension in recent years. Faced with the difficulties of arriving at univocal and shared definitions in the various European countries, which differ in history, culture, legislation and organizational aspects, the idea is gaining ground that these differences represent an asset rather than an obstacle to knowledge and implementation . From comparison and exchange, stimuli can therefore arise for an increasingly broader debate and for the transmission of knowledge, with the aim of deepening skills in the various fields of possible application of Youth Work.
Download the European report on the skills of youth workers and the needs of young people
In the Project Youth Worker Promoting Mental Health (YouProMe), in particular, the objective is to focus on the potential of Youth Work in the field of young people's mental health. Youth distress is a topic with many facets: from various problems linked to contextual, socio-economic and cultural situations, to those that originate more specifically from the onset of a psychiatric pathology. Often these problems converge in the single individual and their addition constitutes a challenge for the agencies that society delegates to deal with them: schools and social and health services. Mental distress has its origins and development in youth. Late or partial interventions in this field risk, as is known, producing negative consequences for the rest of life. On the other hand, educational and socio-health institutions show their limits in the face of this mandate, as their field of action often remains confined within the spatial and relational perimeters of their institutional structures, remaining far from natural places for young people to live, where problems manifest themselves and produce their effects; but also where resources, opportunities, strengths can be grasped, recognized and supported, and where emotional and social skills can consolidate and constitute a barrier to the risk of isolation and drop-out.
This is a field, therefore, in which the role of the youth worker can be crucial, in collaboration with other agencies such as schools and mental health services.
The YOUPROME project it therefore combines the interest in Youth Work and the field of mental health with the primary objective of deepening the skills and methods of intervention of this figure so as to better identify its specific identity and the necessary "tool bag". As the first output of the project, a research report was published which represents the first of a series of tools/tools that the project makes available to Youth Workers who intend to support young people who experience hardship.
On Friday 25 June, our Foundation participates in the 2nd National Conference for Mental Health, entitled “For community mental health”. The event, promoted by the Ministry of Health, is scheduled for Friday 25 and Saturday 26 June 2021 in online streaming mode.
Twenty years after the first National Conference in 2001 and in light of the new challenges also posed by the pandemic, the meeting constitutes an opportunity to dialogue and discussion between institutions, operators, associations and citizens to design a universal, inclusive, transparent and participatory mental health system.
The Di Liegro Foundation will take part in the parallel session in working groups entitled “The role of user associations, family members and volunteers in mental health services”. During her speech, Dr. Anna Maria Palmieri will illustrate the role of the private social sector for an integrated care system in the community and in the territory. A particular focus will be dedicated to priorities and actions, from the principle of subsidiarity to effective socio-health integration, from attention to the young age group to the strengthening of the front lines of intervention in the area (family doctors, schools, family counseling centers ), up to family support and community involvement.
The two-day event aims to:
The realization of the Conference takes place at the conclusion of an in-depth path developed over over a year through the work of the Technical Table for Mental Health established at the Ministry of Health, and various thematic seminars.
“The analysis conducted by the Technical Committee highlighted the strengths and areas in which the care system requires intense maintenance work – he explains Fabrizio Starace, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addictions of the AUSL of Modena and coordinator of the technical table on mental health - from mental health services for children and adolescents to integration with interventions and social policies; from the more careful and timely monitoring of activities to the strengthening of the collaborative relationship with the Regions, for a effective fight against inequalities of access and treatment on the national territory”.
The topics covered in the thematic seminars will be debated during the event with special sessions built starting from the hundreds of proposals and contributions collected. These sessions will be open to public participation who, through dedicated web page on the Ministry of Health website, will be able to access it and interact with the speakers.
Among the issues addressed in the working groups that will meet on the afternoon of the 25th: the qualification of services, the mental health of minors; preventive actions and care in migrant populations and custodial contexts; teamwork, professions, training; good and bad practices of care, social inclusion and support for independent living; the role of user, family and volunteer associations. The last part of the day will be dedicated to the Pathological Theatre, an experience with high social and artistic value. THE
The conference proceedings will open on June 25th from Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, which will be followed by the interventions of Minister of Justice, Marta Cartabia, of the Minister of Labor and Social Policies, Andrea Orlando, of the President of the ANCI National Council, Enzo Bianco, of the President of the Molise Region and member of the Presidency Office of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, Donato Toma, and of Dévora Kestel, Director of the WHO Mental Health Department. This will be followed by a moment dedicated to the testimonies of users, family members, operators and structures active in the sector. Holding the threads of this narrative will be Massimo Cirri, radio host of Rai Radio2 – Caterpillar, and psychologist with 25 years of experience in public mental health services. The Italian experience inserted in the international context will be presented by Giovanni Leonardi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, and by Benedetto Saraceno, Secretary General of the Lisbon Institute for Global Health.
An impact on daily reality and an often very difficult emotional and social life. In Italy around 50 thousand adolescents suffer from epilepsy. Of these, almost 20% have depressive symptoms. In adolescents, the presence of a chronic disease such as epilepsy has an enormous impact on life and conditions one of the most delicate phases in the transition from childhood to adulthood. This is what he reported the Dire Agency on the occasion of the recent 44th National Congress of the Italian League Against Epilepsy (LICE), this year dedicated to the theme of Transition, that is, the planned transition from a system of care centered on the pediatric age to one oriented towards adults.
"Epilepsies - he explained Laura Tassi, president of LICE - are pathologies that in the majority of cases begin in childhood or adolescence. When it affects adolescents, it impacts an extremely delicate phase of personal growth, bringing great change to an age group projected towards a future seen as limitless. Having to follow constant pharmacological therapy, respect timetables and not be able to access all the activities that peers can refer to, can also have significant consequences. Teenagers struggle to accept that they have a chronic illness".
Epilepsy is a chronic pathology characterized not only by recurrent seizures that can change over time, but also, in the most serious and drug-resistant cases, by behavioral alterations, scholastic and social difficulties. According to the main scientific evidence, in fact, children with epilepsy more frequently present mood or behavioral disorders than the general population. They may have learning disabilities, difficulties in studying and finding work, but also difficulties relating to autonomy, body image, peer group, self-esteem and identity.
Many adolescents and young adults with conditions that limit functional abilities and compromise emotional and social life experience transitional difficulties when transitioning from pediatric to adult care. The pathology can have serious effects on the development of adolescents, who face important social problems in adult life. The need for continuity of care during the transition from pediatrics to adult services is particularly important for young people going through the physical and mental transformation from adolescence to adulthood. Good management of this transition period is essential to develop and maintain the self-esteem and confidence of the adolescent with epilepsy. The need therefore emerges to envisage a possible model of transition of care from developmental age to adulthood, a model that takes into account the number and complexity of the problems connected to adolescence.
"The first step - added Laura Tassi - is to identify the professionals capable of taking care of these very particular patients. Subsequently we must obtain the personal involvement of the children. Finally, close communication must be created between pediatric specialists and of adulthood".
Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels
A three-day webinar on the topic “Young people and mental health: a common good”. It is the training event organized by the Di Liegro Foundation, together with Anci Lazio And Observatory for Addiction and sub-threshold mental disorders, and with the contribution of the Lazio Regional Council, to help train administrators, managers and officials of Local Authorities on topics such as social withdrawal, substance addictions, the use and abuse of new technologies. The objective is to impact policies and the organization of prevention and promotion activities for the psychosocial well-being of younger citizens and their families.
The webinar “Young people and mental health: a common good” in fact, it intends to underline the importance of the psychological well-being of citizens, in particular that of young people, especially in this moment linked to the difficulties caused by the pandemic. The Covid-19 emergency has affected not only physical but also mental health, delving into fragilities and difficulties and making many realities even more difficult which, too often, go unnoticed". For this reason it is necessary to think of policies capable of combining the contribution of institutional actors, social services and educational agencies, with that of specific mental health services in a dynamic of complementary value, as underlined when presenting the event Lina Novelli, delegate for Welfare and Social Policies of Anci Lazio.
The Di Liegro Foundation has been working since 2006 with public and private institutions to promote psychosocial well-being, the prevention of mental distress and the dissemination of culture and knowledge of mental health. Over time, the secretary general explained, Luigina Di Liegro, this commitment focused in particular on youth hardship.
Over time, this commitment has focused in particular on youth hardship. Daily experience tells us that substance addictions and pathological behavioral addictions in young people represent a social emergency. Together with the Observatory Association for Addiction and Sub-Threshold Mental Disorders, chaired by the psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Alessandro Vento, the foundation collaborate on a project which, through systematic scanning of the web by software, identifies the presence of New Psychoactive Substances offered for sale on the internet.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND MENTAL HEALTH: A GOOD IN COMMON - THE PROGRAM
Tuesday 13 April 2021 3.00pm - 4.30pm
“The promotion of mental health in adolescence. R-exist the pandemic”
Alessandro Vento, Psychiatrist, Head of the Addictions and Subthreshold Mental Disorders Observatory.
Tuesday 20 April 2021 3.00pm – 4.30pm
“Social withdrawal and school dropout in adolescence”
Ignazio Ardizzone, Child neuropsychiatrist, Head of the Child Neuropsychiatry Psychiatric Clinic at the “Umberto I” Polyclinic in Rome.
Tuesday 27 April 2021 3.00pm – 4.30pm
“The addiction between old and new substances”
Alessandro Vento, Psychiatrist, Head of the Addictions and Subthreshold Mental Disorders Observatory.
Young Europeans they are faced with increasingly difficult conditions on a daily basis: from complicated access to the world of work to parents' expectations, up to the paradox of the internet and social media, which connect and separate at the same time.
A greater number of young people exhibits symptoms of mental distress, such as high stress, anxiety, depression, addictions. making it harder to build your life plan and find your place in the world.
For this reason, the European Union promoted a new Strategy on the topic in 2018. One of the objectives identified concerns "Mental health and well-being", aimed at promoting the social inclusion of all young people, improving their mental well-being and eliminating stigmatization towards them.
This project fits into this framework by investing in training and recognition of the skills of employees Youth Workers who have the task of guide and support young people in their development personal, social and educational helping them to achieve and express their full potential in society. Youth workers, by learning a series of skills ranging from emotional intelligence to self-awareness, to time management and coping with external pressure, play a key role, with teachers and other professionals, in providing training for young people on mental health problems and on building emotions and dealing with mental health.
Serious mental disorders that can compromise parenting ability. In the research conducted, children frequently report experiences of neglect and abuse, feelings of fear or danger due to the psychiatric symptoms of their parents for whom they are "forced" to become caregivers.
The data and research on this condition are fragmented and too often incomplete, but they provide a dramatic picture. In 2004 (Nicholson et al.) reported that the 67% of women and the 75% of men experiencing conditions of serious mental distress (including schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, severe depression) are parents.
Furthermore, the interaction between genetics and environment in combination with high exposure to emotional stress represents a risk factor for children (both minors and adults) to develop psychiatric problems in the future.
Hence the need to raise awareness and inform civil society on the topic and to focus on concrete tools to support the children of parents with mental health problems. The project therefore worked, thanks to the collaboration of partners from different countries (Belgium, Greece, Italy and Turkey), on sharing good practices on advocacy strategies and promoting a change in policies at national and EU level. The main recipients of the information and awareness actions, in addition to mental health professionals, were family caregivers: to orient them to the support services of mental health services and to promote the exchange of experiences and mutual help.
Even on the subject of addictions, the impact of the pandemic on mental health clearly emerged in the first wave of the virus and has a start date: last March 9th, when the entry into force of the lockdown, the confinement, changed perhaps forever our lifestyle.
The very existence of Covid-19 has triggered a maladjustment syndrome in the general population and even more so in a group of people with pre-existing mental disorders diagnosed in the anxious-depressive spectrum.
In the field of addictions - in which the psychiatrist works Alessandro Vento, speaker of the VI meeting of the training course "Volunteers and families online for mental health" and responsible forAddictions Observatory - consumption patterns have changed. There has been a massive increase in alcohol and prescription drug use, especially by street users of psychoactive substances, which disappeared from the market during the lockdown. At the same time, the adulteration of substances has increased - which consumers have begun to cut with what they have available, with greater damage to health - and the online purchase of psychoactive substances, legal or not.
Also noteworthy is the use of foods with psycho-pharmacological properties (for example spices) used in the pandemic together with alcohol, as compensatory conduct.
There were big differences between the first and second waves of Covid, he confirmed Giuseppe Ducci, director of the Mental Health Department of ASL Roma 1, also a speaker at the VI meeting of the training course. Differences due to the different types of insulation implemented. Psychiatric problems were much greater during the lockdown. In the ASL Roma 1 there have been five suicides, all involving single women.
We must consider that the fundamental elements of mental health are sociality and resilience which is that ability to adapt to circumstances, overcome the stress of adverse events that occur in life, maintaining or restoring balance in a fairly short time.
This pandemic occurs a century after the "Spanish flu", in a totally different world which will still change profoundly due to the emergency we are experiencing, and must be an opportunity to build a different way of operating in mental health too.
We need to move to "a new culture of taking care of the user", based on the strong integration of services, imagine and create flexible working groups made up of different operators with different skills that are set up on a case, a patient, tailored to the characteristics of the person. Groups open to external parties, such as families and entities active in the area. ASL Roma 1 is working on this.
Photo by Isabella Mendes from Pexels
Educational poverty and commitment of the Third Sector: Joining forces, training and informing, reflecting on the meaning of equality and equity. But above all, take into consideration the needs of young people and make them protagonists. These are the themes of the speech Anna Maria Palmieri, psychologist-psychotherapist of the Di Liegro Foundation at the workshop “The Educational Community in the time of coronavirus. Analysis, reflections, ideas and proposals for the creation of a Smart Educating Community", organized by the "Free the future" project.
To fight educational poverty, the Third Sector can contribute to helping schools by joining forces. This does not mean delegating roles and functions, but valuing everyone's strengths and understanding the contribution that each entity can make for a path, a common project like “Free the future”.
Another fundamental aspect is to support training as well information activities, which is a distinctive feature of the Di Liegro Foundation. The different educational agencies must engage on both fronts, as training and information agencies, which favor both formal and non-formal learning modes. It can happen within youth aggregation centers or in training courses, where it is possible to experiment with different paths compared to institutions or alongside them to create generative movements.
At the same time, it's important distinguish between “equality” and “equity”. Equality requires that everyone is treated in the same way, that everyone has the same things: in the case of distance learning it means providing a good connection and a valid computer to everyone. Equity instead means giving the same opportunities. If we go to the etymology of the word "crisis" (from the Greek "krino": separate, discern, judge), we see that the crisis caused by the Coronavirus offers us the opportunity to evaluate and make new choices, in short, to seize an opportunity. For this reason, the needs of young people must be kept in mind. Equity, therefore, also means considering that the evolutionary trajectories of adolescents are not all the same, so making sure that with distance learning, in front of a monitor, they do not get lost. We must ensure that every child can find their own educational channel to express themselves.
Just think about technology. Alongside digital natives we find digital immigrants, those born before '95. During the COVID-19 emergency, this disparity in IT knowledge clearly emerged and, in many cases, it was the students who taught their teachers how to use the platforms. It was about an important moment from an educational point of view, because it allows children to have their competence recognized in mutual training courses and to be taken seriously. Our experience with the Di Liegro Foundation, with emotional literacy projects and peer education, tells us that one of the main needs of children is precisely this: to be taken seriously.
In fact, experience tells us that it is difficult to involve children in projects. In adolescence the points of reference change, the privileged interlocutors of their dialogue are no longer family and school, but the group. This is why it is necessary to choose different methodologies (such as peer education and youth workers, to get young people working on a range of skills. Educational poverty must not be accompanied by emotional poverty. We know that learning goes hand in hand with emotion and that emotions support learning: we must therefore support emotional and social skills,. A complexity that the School is called to keep in mind. Working together, joining forces to address these complexities is the way forward.
#Freethefuture is a three-year project, in which the Di Liegro Foundation also participates, dedicated to Roman students, between 11 and 17 years old, from five Municipalities of the Capital (I, VII, VIII, forms of youth hardship, such as dropping out of school, petty crime and vandalism. The objective of #Liberailfuture is to reduce the threat of isolation and social marginalization. With the hope, once the project is concluded, of having created a neighborhood relational fabric capable of supporting the identity formation of the new generations (community welfare) and of restoring to young people the value of solidarity and active participation in civil life.
Substance addictions and pathological behavioral addictions in young people represent a social emergency. The spread and consumption of ever new drugs, but also the abuse of the internet or television, pathological gambling, compulsive shopping or some eating disorders (just to give a few examples) require information and training actions for families, social and health workers, educators and citizens, capable of preventing discomfort.
For years the Don Luigi Di Liegro Onlus International Foundation has been involved in the field of mental health and collaborates with the health and social services of Rome and Lazio to promote recovery and social inclusion paths for people with mental health problems and their families. This commitment has focused over time on youth hardship, with thematic training courses, emotional literacy projects, peer education courses in schools and research activities.
The Di Liegro Foundation and theAddictions Observatory Association have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening their activities, which will take place at the Foundation's headquarters.
The collaboration includes information and mental health promotion actions through training projects; cultural and social initiatives, organization of exhibitions, seminars, conferences, screenings, debates and courses; research and data collection activities regarding the use/abuse of substances and addictive behaviors, for the purpose of popular scientific publications on the topic.
“The interaction with the Di Liegro Foundation – explained the president of the Observatory on Addictions, Alessandro E. Vento – helps us consolidate the network of institutional relationships. We also signed the agreement for the authoritativeness and seriousness of the contents carried out by the Foundation and their important initiatives open to users of mental health services, their families and people from civil society".
“Mental health in the young age group, a crucial moment in development and for the onset of possible difficulties in emotional development, is a topic of great importance – he commented Luigina Di Liegro, general secretary of the Foundation – And it makes it necessary to act in terms of information, protection and prevention of discomfort. For this reason, we contribute with determination to the improvement of the NPS Finder created by the Addictions Observatory.
