Vocational education process in European tutoring for immersion trainees in the mental health sector Erasmus Project

Project Title

Vocational education process in European tutoring for immersion trainees
in the mental health sector

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 vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits)

Project Summary

After having developed a tutoring programme in the mental health sector in a previous project, with focus on the trainee, this project has the ambition to develop the support to tutors and proposes a training of trainers combined with the activation of a network of exchanges of European professionals. It aims to support strong institutional partnerships for the implementation of an internationalization strategy for VET learners in the mental health field. The partnership involves 6 European countries and a variety of complementary organisations: mental health centers, higher education institutions and associations.

In Europe, the training of the professionals of the Mental Health field is of multiple levels and often heterogeneous. The academic achievements do not always prove to be adequate enough for the expectations of the professionals and the current evolutions of the sector. Young professionals in this field need additional training in the basic clinical curriculum. Indeed, academic achievements are not always in line with the professional world of mental health and changes in the field. It is therefore necessary to develop closer ties between the two, in order to complete and perfect the training of young professionals. The shortage in some mental health professions is important, it is consequently necessary to continue to develop their attractiveness by strengthening our tutoring program allowing the transmission of skills between young workers and the most experienced, allowing a transgenerational transmission.

That’s why it’s important to develop tools and practices for the tutors in charge of that coaching and to develop a more precise framework fully beneficial for everyone: professionals of the Mental Health field but also weakest populations: mental health concerns the general population as a whole but also some specific groups like migrants, people with fewer opportunities, etc. We pay special attention to this issue during the implementation of the project.

The project runs the training of Tutors in Mental Health over three academic years. This training consists of theoretical seminars and practical workshops to simulate and provide feedback on field experiences. The Tutors therefore supervise trainees in their professional immersions, in their reflexive and editorial activities but also with their feedback to the teams.

This training aims at the acquisition by Tutors of transversal skills. During the 3 years of the project, we organised 3 training sessions of 3 days each (in French and in English) The focus is on the transnational and pedagogical skills needed to monitor trainees. The strategy is to build a set of educational tools and implement them for volunteer Tutors. Evaluation and certification of Tutors and trainees will be carried out with the obtainment of ECTS credits.

Roughly this project aims to:

1. Increase the level of expertise of the employees in the mental health sector.
2. Increase the level of skills of monitors trainees by training based on scenarios and feedback’s experience.
3. Creation and distribution of tools allowing future Tutors to accompany young professionals.
4. Enhance the attractiveness of the professions linked to mental health.
5. Positive impact on the motivation of the professionals both young and old and reduce absenteeism.
6. Create a link between the generations via a formal and non-formal transmission of knowledge.
7. Make the socio-professional integration of the young employees easier.
8. Propose numerous, flexible and quality job openings to the young persons in training.
9. This project also aims for the consolidation of a European network of centers specialized in psychiatry and mental health in close cooperation with the research and academic fields.
10. Destigmatisation of the mental health field by media and communications events and also with a reinforcement of the link between the academic world and mental health.

The intellectual outputs created, taught and distributed during the project are concrete and transferable advances in the field of tutoring and include a recruitment strategy manual, the designing of a training session and its material, a booklet for tutors, a scientific article and a collaborative book.

Project Website

http://tuto.network

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 223731,08 Eur

Project Coordinator

Centre Neuro Psychiatrique Saint-Martin & Country: BE

Project Partners

• EPSM LILLE METROPOLE
• Kentro Psichikis kai Paidagogikis Ypostiriksis (Center for Mental and Pedagogical Support)
• UNIVERSITATEA AUREL VLAICU DIN ARAD
• ASSOCIATION DE PREVENTION SOINS ET INSERTION
• Haute Ecole de la Province de Namur
• LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF HEALTH
• ASOCIACION SALUT MENTAL