Building Resilience and Brighter Futures Erasmus Project

Project Title

Building Resilience and Brighter Futures

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

Research has shown that suicide and self-harm activities among teenagers is a very complicated phenomenon and difficult to prevent or seriously decrease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled it a word health problem. I fact, suicide is among the fifth most common causes of primature death in the age group 15-19 years in the world. A recent report showed that Iceland was one of four countries within OECD where suicide rates among 15-19 year old were the highest (17.5 suicides per 100.000 people) and Lithuania has had one of the steepest rates of increase since the 1990s. While rates were on the decline in Iceland they started rising in recent years. A 2015 European Social Survey further revealed that in self-reporting Icelandic teenagers were more depressed and anxious than their peers in the Nordic Countries. These statistics are alarming and too little is being done to tackle this health problem. While the family and the schools should be at the forefront of preventive measures against mental health problems there is still a need for a strategy and actions from the public authorities. Suicide rates among teenagers in Ireland have also been on the rise in recent years with UNICEF reporting them as the 4th highest within OECD with 10.3 suicides among 15-19 year olds per 100.000 people and a rise in self-reporting of
mental health issues among teenagers in Ireland (data from Iceland was missing but OECD 2013 data is reported above). The project Building Resilience and Brighter Futures School Programme, or BUILD, aims at equipping 13-14 year old teenagers (8th graders) in Hafnarfjordur municipality and Kaunas city, some of whom might already be experiencing suicidal ideation and engaging in self-harm, with emotional and resilience techniques and strategies. This will be done through their participation in a six week resilience course which is run through once-weekly sessions. In this course they will develop the coping skills and inner resilience to help them overcome the challenges that life presents. The learning will be integrated in the agenda of youth centers located within each compulsory school in Hafnarfjordur and in two compulsory schools in Kaunas and will be facilitated jointly by a 8th grade teacher and a youth worker with support from a therapist from Píeta Ísland and The Social Innovation Fund in Lithuania. Sessions will take place during school hours to ensure participation of most pupils in the cohort, including those who are vulnerable and marginalized from their peers. Prior to launching the Building Resilience and Brighter Futures Programme in 2017 on which BUILD is based on, the experts at Athena in Ireland reviewed all educational programmes available in Ireland and consulted with own clinical staff to find out the age that they thought would be most beneficial to receiving the training. Focus groups were conducted with teachers and pupils to ensure that the programme responded to the specific needs of pupils and that pupil and teachers voices and opinions were captured and responded too. All agreed that early adolescence was a time of huge change physically, emotionally and socially, and thus an optimal age to focus on. Icelandic and Lithuanian teens enter lower secondary school at the age of 13. For many this is a big change. Targeting pupils in the 8th grade is thus optimal. The BUILD learning course will be transferred and adapted to Icelandic and Lithuanian contexts with guidance from Athena experts. In addition three new learning modules will be added to the course. Athena experts will guide the Icelandic and Lithuania partners in the adaptation process and in the training of teachers and youth workers.The organisation developed the course to meet a rising need for their services among teenagers under 18 years (rose by 163% 2011-2016). The course was launched in eight schools in Ireland in April 2017 but has since reached thousands of students in 57 schools across the country. Given the success of the implementation in Ireland, we can easily assume that there is great need for preventive measures in regards to mental health among teenagers in Iceland and Lithuania as well. While BUILD will be piloted in Hafnarfjordur and Kaunasthe long term aim of Píeta Ísland, s to implement the course in all municipalities across Iceland and in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The expected impact of the BUILD course on the participants (pupils) is a positive and statistically significant change in their emotional well-being and outlook for the future. The ultimate impact would be the lowering of suicide rates in Iceland and Lithuania but that can only be measured if the course reaches in the future a higher proportion of the 8th graders annually. Another expected impact is an increased awareness of the importance of engaging in preventive mental health measures among youth to lower future health care and counselling costs, but more importantly to save lives.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 159118 Eur

Project Coordinator

Píeta Ísland & Country: IS

Project Partners

• SOCIALINIU INOVACIJU FONDAS
• MUNICIPALITY OF HAFNARFJORDUR
• ATHENA/ACADEMY For MENTAL HEALTH &WELL BEING LIMITED.