Over the last three years, more than 4,000 primary, secondary, high school and vocational school students have participated in training courses, workshops and days dedicated to emotional education, organised by Misiones Salesiana’, the educational staff of the Salesianos Deusto centre and the Centro de Estudios Almi and the AVIFES association, which specialises in mental health and emotional management. All this with the aim of discussing eating disorders, self-esteem and the impact of social networks.
Participants in these initiatives acquired a range of knowledge related to recognising the importance of mental health as part of overall well-being.
During the three years of work, common symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and other disorders were also addressed. Work was also done to reduce prejudices related to mental health problems, and emotions such as sadness, anger, fear, joy and frustration were identified and expressed appropriately. Skills were developed to recognise how emotions influence thoughts and behaviours, and strategies were learned to manage intense emotions (breathing, mindfulness, writing, etc.); thus, both emotional communication and healthy and respectful relationships were improved.
Oihane Álvarez, Development Education Project Coordinator, explained that ‘taking care of the mind and emotions is fundamental to life. Over the last three years, the Salesian Centre in Deusto has organised more than 70 workshops, webinars and educational resources with the aim of strengthening the emotional education and mental health of students, families and teachers’.
The participating students themselves evaluated the work done and their ideas and testimonies were collected. Second-year secondary school students emphasised the need to feel listened to, to work on loneliness and social relationships, on comparisons in social networks and on the pressure of expectations. Third-year secondary school and sixth-form students showed an interest in learning about and acquiring tools to control anxiety and stress, while younger students in the sixth year of primary school were interested in self-care, personal care and social relationships, aspects closely linked to improving self-esteem.
One of the students at Deusto said that the mental health workshops helped her to better understand her emotions and control herself when she felt nervous, for example when approaching an exam. The tools provided by these workshops, therefore, helped her both in her studies and in her daily life.
Aulas en Acción, which began in 2023, has expanded to involve most of the educational community and neighbourhoods where the participating centres are located. More than 300 families participated in the webinar ‘How to take care of our children's mental health?’, breaking down many taboos on the subject with their presence.
Nowadays, when the importance of mental health is being emphasised worldwide, the aim is to raise awareness and promote the need to take care of the mind and body. The importance of dedicating time to emotional well-being, rest, sharing with those who support and recognise you and, above all, the need to acquire emotional education tools is being emphasised.
To this end, schools, together with teachers and families, are fundamental in continuing to emphasise the importance of creating spaces for care.
Source: Misiones Salesianas
