The project "You learn to do well at school" is a journey of peer education which takes place in two high schools in Rome over the course of three years. The aim of the project is promote well-being and prevent bullying through a peer approach, where students are trained as peer counselors to support their peers.
The first phase of the project involves the entire student body and has the aim of making it cohesive and enhancing it as a resource and protection factor. Through the intervention and guidance of the psychological team, the classes worked on creating a sense of belonging, collaboration, cooperation and integration between peers. This work allowed the creation of a positive and well-being climate, to limit marginalization or isolation, phenomena which can cause, in addition to individual discomfort with consequent poor academic performance and possible school dropouts, the onset of the phenomenon of bullying.
The second phase involves the identification, within the various classes, of students motivated to become peer consultants and provides them with training to strengthen personal resources, develop self-efficacy and skills (empowerment) identified together, including and shared (life skills). This was followed by monitoring, support and supervision of the peer counselors.
The third phase aims to consolidate the work done and further develop the function of peer counselors by integrating it into an educational program based on promoting well-being at school. Peer counselors become peer educators and enter the classroom to raise awareness among their classmates about the topics they have learned.
Starting from 19 October, the 13th edition of the usual training course "Volunteers and families online for mental health" promoted by the Foundation will be held, entitled: "Lifestyles for well-being in adolescence". Nine meetings aimed at those interested in learning more about mental health volunteering.
In particular, this year's theme focuses onadolescence and lifestyles for well-being. The protagonist will be the network of relationships and the experiences lived by the adolescent; networks which, in addition to being psychological and emotional, are also cultural and social: family, school, peer group.
The meetings will be held at headquarters of the Di Liegro Foundation, in via Ostiense, 106 - Montemartini Central Entrance - The headquarters is easily reachable by public transport: Garbatella line B metro stop.
Download the meeting programme
To register:
Fill in the form downloadable to send to segreteria@fondazionediliegro.it
Or
sign up online by clicking here
The cost of the entire course is 50 euros. It can be paid on the first day of the course.
Saturday 23 November The third meeting of our usual training course was held. This year's focus is on Lifestyles for well-being in adolescence.
The chairs in a circle. Parents, relatives, psychologists, psychotherapists, students, social workers. The theme is adolescence in the family life cycle. The dialogue starts from a video with i first-person stories of young people who live with discomfort, sometimes with a psychological disorder, the difficult process of transformation that leads to adulthood.
Then the parents - the vast majority are mothers - they talk about their troubled paths, which in several cases begin from their own problematic adolescence, marked by dysfunctional parents. The gray areas that emerge thin out in the group, which listens, understands, condivide, supports, suggests, accompanied by the experts present.
Change your perspective, find the courage to transform your ideas, change your gaze on your children, trust them, stay with them for overcome fear together of living that concerns everyone: adolescents, parents, operators. Because fear is always accompanied by hope, hope that there is still time, that we can succeed.
The next meeting, Saturday 30 November, will have the theme of health through integration. We look forward to seeing you for another moment of personal and collective growth.
Giovani e dipendenze: ogni settimana una nuova sostanza psicoattiva appare nel mercato delle droghe. L’osservatorio europeo che monitora questa materia (EMCDDA) alla fine del 2018 aveva contato, sulla base dei sequestri effettuati nel continente, circa 800 nuove molecole sintetiche. Cifra che coincide grosso modo con quella diffusa dalle Nazioni Unite (892).
Ma un altro dato è invece in contrasto con le agenzie internazionali ufficiali, come ha illustrato lo psichiatra Alessandro Vento, presidente dell'associazione Osservatorio sulle dipendenze. Viene dall’NPS Finder, un web-crawler progettato e realizzato da un team di operatori della salute mentale di una Asl romana per identificare automaticamente le nuove sostanze psicoattive lanciate in rete. Nel primo periodo pilota di 18 mesi ne sono state intercettate ben 4.000; molecole che possono causare alterazioni neurobiologiche tali da indurre disturbi psichici associati ad aggressività auto o etero diretta. Lo psichiatra Alessandro Vento, uno dei realizzatori del progetto, lo ha illustrerà nel suo intervento al convegno.
L’universo della tossicodipendenza si è trasformato profondamente, anche se la sua rappresentazione resta quella di generazioni passate. Attenzione, le vecchie droghe ci sono ancora (la cannabis è sempre quella più diffusa), ma viene aumentata costantemente la loro potenza e il poli-abuso, cioè l’uso concomitante di più sostanze, è diventato la regola.
Distinguere tra droghe leggere e pesanti non ha più molto senso. La psichiatra Marta Di Forti del King’s College di Londra, relatrice del convegno, ha condotto una ricerca su 900 pazienti provenienti da 11 località europee che ha dimostrato l’incidenza dell’uso della cannabis ad alta potenza negli esordi psicotici, un dato che ha importanti implicazioni per la salute pubblica.
Il rapporto dei giovani e dipendenza dall’alcol, spesso associato all’assunzione di sostanze in una sorta di nuova “cultura del bere”, è stato il tema dell’intervento di Emanuele Scafato, direttore dell’Osservatorio Nazionale Alcol dell’Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Nell’ottica di una necessaria e possibile prevenzione.
Il convegno aprirà poi un ampio sguardo sulle nuove epidemie: le dipendenze non farmacologiche che minacciano la salute mentale dei nostri adolescenti, dalla sindrome di astinenza da internet all’abuso di interattività che stronca i rapporti interpersonali, fino all’Hikikomori, il ritiro sociale di adolescenti, spesso molto intelligenti, che si isolano sempre di più fino ad abbandonare la scuola e chiudersi in casa, passando ore davanti allo schermo del computer. Fenomeno nato negli anni ‘80 in Giappone e in grave diffusione anche in Italia.
Dietro queste realtà, una generazione che non guarda più né al passato né al futuro, ferma in un presente assoluto, vissuto nella ricerca del massimo sballo. Mentre gli adulti appaiono in preda a una crisi di autorevolezza che depotenzia ogni tentativo di sostegno ai giovani in dipendenza.
Il titolo del convegno sottolinea il ruolo determinante del servizio pubblico nella battaglia in favore della salute mentale dei giovani a cui la Fondazione Di Liegro da tempo dà il suo sostegno. Ne va del futuro di tutti. Servono un ripensamento e una riorganizzazione dei servizi, servono nuovi investimenti. “Risposte integrate al disagio giovanile: una sfida per i servizi del futuro” è il titolo della tavola rotonda che ha concluso il convegno.
We asked Cesare Moreno, president ofNon-profit Road Masters Associationto answer some questions.
How can we address the problems of drugs, polyconsumption of substances, new addictions, for example, technological ones among young and very young people today?
Extreme youth behaviors, including those mentioned, constitute compulsive responses to problems that require complex responses that should mark the transition to maturity. From my point of view there is the general problem of dependence which is essentially a "crisis of presence" or even a form of "widespread anomie". Two sides of the same coin that refer to feeling permanently out of place, from having a compulsive need for strong sensations to realizing that you are there. Among these responses I also include dependence on ideologies and charismatic leaders, obsessive conformism and even syndromes of social withdrawal that take this feeling of being out of place to the extreme. All these situations refer to a single problem: the absence of community, that is, the absence of significant ties, of relationships in which the young person feels they have a role, feels that their existence has a meaning, can feel their existence because there is someone who shares a dream, a desire with her.
What strategy should services have today to address the problem of youth hardship?
Any service, starting from the school one, should start again not from youthful discomfort, but from the "distress of civilization" from the contemporary forms that existential discomfort takes on, the way of the human animal of being in an organized society. The process of hominization The process of civilisation, even in the most rarefied forms of culture, is still based on processes that concern the body and its emotional expressions. The discomfort of civilization is first of all the difficulty in placing the bodily self in a social process which in its dominant expressions denies all phenomena linked to the body and treats them all as objects of consumption and a supposedly rational hyper-control. Starting from here means working with young people starting from sharing a profound discomfort, starting from the fact that adults and operators demonstrate with their existence and resistance that they know how to be themselves despite everything, despite "all evidence to the contrary" aimed at devaluation of the human. Any service to the person should start from sharing, from trying to build community, from taking care of a common good together which in this case is the psychological well-being of young people and the operators responsible for interacting with them.
To deal with addictions, how can networking be structured that is organic and truly integrated between services and other resources present in the area: schools, voluntary associations, parishes, social cooperatives, employers?
For true networking it is necessary to found an alliance upstream of the services. We need to recognize ourselves together in a territorial community even before in a professional community. The networks have so far been understood as a federation of independent republics, with all the limitations and failures of the case. Instead, we must start from sharing a common good which in this case is the network of community relations. The people are concrete and non-ideological entities, when mutual care exists, when specialists communicate intimately with non-specialist interlocutors. The essence of a true community is the permanent and equal dialogue between people who perform a specialized function and ordinary citizens who are not recipients but interlocutors of those who perform a service. Each service has its own specific logic linked to the techniques it must use in relation to its mission, but all services must operate as part of a community and as founders of that community. As long as the services operate as outposts of the State in territories untouched by grace, the networks do not work and if they work they do so in defense of themselves - of a professional identity as an end in itself - and not in support of the community of life.
Where to start from to start recovery paths for young people and very young people who experience forms of addiction and social hardship?
It is necessary that in every neighborhood, in every territorial unit for which a space for community relations can be envisaged, there is a center for the promotion of sociality that is not only youthful, but concerns all citizens who feel the desire to establish community relations , a place that promotes initiatives and does not limit itself to aggregation, a place where an authentic meeting between generations can take place. In this community "cultivation soup", specialized services can operate that help and support young people in finding the path to significance.
The conference, reflecting on the theme of mental health in young people, aims to focus on and analyze the complex world of addictions and their relationship with mental distress.
International literature highlights that approximately 75% of all mental disorders arise before the age of 24. In particular, the WHO reveals that one in 5 adolescents today suffers from some mental disorder and this trend is also growing for the years to come.
L'adolescence and the early youth they represent the phase of life in which the onset or the first episode of most mental disorders.
To the typical problems of this transition phase of the evolutionary cycle, which involves a profound transformation at a biological and neurobiological level, in our society there are added potential risk factors connected to the rapids technological transformations and to theirs cultural and social reflections, both in local communities and globally.
In particular, the theme of substance addictions And addictions pathological behaviors in their modern complexity, they represent today asocial emergency which requires us to inform and train families, health and social workers, educators, all citizens, especially in the perspective of prevention of discomfort.
The themes of prevention and promotion of mental health constitute the central objectives of the working group integrated within this conference, which is organized with the collaboration of the Harcourt Foundation, of the Association Observatory on Addiction (ODDPSS), of Italian Society of Psychiatric Epidemiology (SIEP) and the Faculties of Social Sciences and Psychology of Pontifical Gregorian University.
The conference therefore represents an important opportunity to delve deeper into the topic of mental health in adolescence, highlighting some of the most widespread problems among young people today. Furthermore, it is proposed to create one space for comparison useful for a rethinking and reorganization of intervention methodologies in managing the phenomenon that takes into account the different actors involved and its social and cultural, as well as clinical, complexity.
Participation in the conference is free.
To register:
Or
ECM and training credits - Upon request, a certificate of attendance will be issued. The event is accredited by Duerre congressi SRL provider n.522 for n. 7 ECM credits for all healthcare professions (voluntary contribution €50). 7 training credits for Social Workers (cVoluntary contribution €20). The event is also accredited by the Journalists' Association for n. 7 credits (CFP).
“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.
This is Linda's story. Our daughter is 20 years old, she was born in Colombia and we adopted her when she was 9 years old. As a child, relationships in the family were very affectionate, but relational difficulties with her peers soon emerged. She always felt "not accepted" and "rejected" by her classmates. He was very exuberant and seemed sociable, but in reality he harbored a lot of anger and a sense of rebellion within himself that exploded with growth and adolescence.
By participating in the course for volunteers and family members, we came into human contact with people who, like our daughter, experience mental distress.
Linda's family
We helped her with psychological support, then also with drugs that stabilized her mood. However, she became increasingly intolerant of the rules, resentful towards her family and parents, teachers, classmates, the world. She left school in the 3rd year of high school and, at eighteen, she decided to "turn the page" and reject everything she had been. She stayed away from home for months, frequented degraded environments, looking for something that would give meaning to her life and her unhappiness.
Since she "abandoned" her family, school, psychological support and medicine, she has no longer committed herself to any type of project (study, work, hobby). Her inconstancy and variability of mood prevented her from building anything. For about a year she has been dating a boy with the same problems as her. She created a symbiotic relationship with him. They are always together, doing nothing, without friendships, often in depression. However, this emotional stability is contained in the most negative behaviors and attitudes.
Linda's story continues when we learned about the Di Liegro Foundation in the autumn of 2017 through an announcement in the city free press. In the previous years we had had several contacts with our daughter's therapists and we had also experienced the process of family therapy, but the pain and anxiety did not allow us to deeply understand the real situation. In 2016 our daughter had “slipped out of hand” and we were lost.
We started following the course for volunteers and family members of people with mental health problems, organized by the Foundation. The explanations of professionals, psychologists and psychiatrists, listening and discussing with other family members opened a window onto a world we had been in contact with, but which we had not really understood. Concepts, key words, suggestions received in the past have acquired a different rational and emotional meaning for us, thanks to the Di Liegro Foundation. We looked at our daughter with new eyes, with less anger for all the pain experienced because of her. It was a slow change that brought us closer to her again.
The Di Liegro Foundation allowed us to attend a self-help group, introduced us to multi-family therapy and also gave us the opportunity to volunteer. We thus entered into human contact with people who, like our daughter, experience mental distress. Together with them, in the Foundation's laboratories, we carry out simple but significant activities such as singing, drawing, theater or sewing. Let's get to know them and get to know each other better. We share their pain and their desires.
In recent months, Linda's story has evolved: she has managed to do some small jobs from time to time. Now the challenge is that of autonomy. We gave her the opportunity to live with her boyfriend to learn how to manage a house and daily living. Our hope is that, as he grows up, he can improve, have some life motivation and find some serenity again.
Youthful mental health problems are increasingly becoming an important element in modern society. Today, through new means of communication we are beginning to perceive the importance of this phenomenon which was once underestimated.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), by 2020 more than 20% of developmental age subjects will suffer from some forms of mental disorder. Suicide will be the third leading cause of death in adolescence. At the same time we are witnessing a large increase in behavioral disorders, related to situations such as addiction to psychotropic substances, relationship problems, illnesses and poverty.
One of the most important emergencies of the last decade concerns social networks. This means of communication is increasingly uncontrollable, so much so that it is turning from a children's free time game into a real addiction.
The data shows us that in Italy, in the under 25 age group, the situation is complex. For this reason, the Di Liegro Foundation has decided, in the current edition, to focus on the theme of youth mental distress, bringing prevention to the fore, so that every adolescent can be able to live their existence to the full in order to avoid the onset of acute illnesses and degenerative processes.
The cost of the course is €20 for students, €50 for all other categories
To enroll in the course CLICK HERE
