LETsTALK: developing gender sensitive mental health program for young people

COVID-19 pandemic further aggravated and accelerated the further deterioration of already impaired mental health of young people globally (local centers, schools, universities closed, mental healt...

The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity of youth workers in supporting young peoples’ mental health with focus on gender sensitive approach to MH issues. Specifically: 1) Providing Policy analyses and recommendations related to young people’s mental health on EU and national level, with focus on the gender perspective; 2) Strengthening capacities of partner organizations and youth workers to support young people's mental health; 3) Developing the gender sensitive tools for understanding and supporting one's own mental health for young people, and 4) Disseminating the developed knowledge and resources in 4 partner countries and on EU level. With implementation of this project, the partner organizations will be able to offer training for youth experts in improving young people’s mental health and available resources via the developed digital platform that is visibly promoted on their websites and social media and their local, regional and national networks of stakeholders in the youth sector.

The consortium consisted of 4 CSO with complementary expertise in youth work and adolescent mental health, from Croatia (FFE), Greece (KMOP), Italy (CSC Danilo Dolci) and Serbia (CZOR) implemented a wide spectrum of activities. Besides 4 transnational partner meetings and one joint learning event, numerous meetings, collaborations and work sessions took place in order for the project results to be developed. The consortium conducted in each country national activities that lead to the creation of Policy Analyses and Recommendations related to young people’s mental health on EU and national level, with focus on the gender perspective. These activities involved policy analyses, interviews, mapping the best practices and discovering the gaps, creating country specifics and comparative findings. In order to create Gender sensitive Youth Mental Health Program and Toolkit Resources the consortium exchanged the knowledge and developed Program Curriculum for youth workers in the area of Youth mental health, Handbook for youth workers and Workbook for young people. The transnational learning event gathered 30 participants from the consortium organizations and young people which aimed at deepening the understanding of the gender and MH as well as exchanging knowledge and best practices. In order to create a Digital Platform supporting young people's mental health, with all the resources and materials available in 5 languages, each partner accordingly participated in creating the national language content. With the aim of sharing and dissemination of project results, multiplier events were organized in each partner country including more then 120 participants. Extensive online promotion and sharing of results was carried out. Each partner used their promotion channels, dissemination practices, resources and policy influence to maximize the reach of the project results and achievement in their national contexts.

The project produced numerous insights, practice and scientific inputs, best practices, training curriculum and related publications as well as a digital platform with publicly available project results (PR). The PR1 is a POLICY ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION ON YOUTH´ S MENTAL HEALTH GENDER SENSITIVE NEEDS, a document based on the policy analyses and field research in 4 partner countries, aimed at the decision and policy makers, but also the managers and experts in the field of youth mental health and youth work. It informs the key persons and youth experts on the importance of gender sensitive approach to youth mental health, explain the difference we see in young people of different genders facing mental health issues and help them tailor and implement efficient policies and strategies to address the issues and provide the needed support systems. This also serves as a starting, evidence based point to achieve mutual understanding among EU members participating in the project (and more widely), to show which actions are necessary in the field of supporting young people's mental health and that dedication is needed to this topic. Also, it contains valuable information on the importance of a gender sensitive approach to mental health, because the needs and issues differ, and often the mental health messages and approaches are ignoring that fact. The PR2 is a GENDER SENSITIVE YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM AND TOOLKIT RESOURCES, a program curriculum and related publications for youth workers and young people. The program consists of: (a)Training curriculum with the description of the program, list of learning outcomes, list of references, duration and type of the certificate; (b) Handbook for youth workers consisted of: (1) The importance of gender perspective on mental health of young people from developmental perspective; (2) Recommendations of mental health experts on what youth workers can do to provide better gender-sensitive support to young people; and (3) Gendersensitive pedagogical tools and interventions in supporting young people’s mental health. The (c) Workbook for young people consists of different self-reflective, informative and interactive handouts for young people to work through so they are appreciative of the importance of mental health and more caring for themselves and their peers. Through the developed Gender sensitive youth mental health program with toolkit resources all youth workers, youth experts and youth in the EU will have the most relevant and up to date program that corresponds to the detected needs of all involved target groups. As it is disseminated through the PR3 - website and platform, it reaches not only youth workers and experts but also young people and gives them resources to better understand their state, and also to have all necessary information on how to improve their mental health. The PR3, a DIGITAL PLATFORM YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH is the innovative interactive Digital platform that aims to tackle gender-sensitive mental health issues while applying an inclusive approach to all young people. The website platform contains the RESEARCH AND POLICY SECTION (a compilation of up-to-date reports on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health of young people together with the identified good practices on policy and service level, and gender issues); TRAINING COURSES SECTION (with the program tested at national levels and designed during the testing phase with the collaboration of all youth workers and hub youth group (PR2); RESOURCES AND MATERIALS SECTION (with the digital materials, pedagogical resources, tools and instruments that partners and