Some Intro

At the end of 2019, the novel coronavirus (SARS-COVID-2, or COVID-19) started to spread all over the world, leading to dangerous health problems and deaths, globally. In order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 Pandemic, governments from different countries applied national lockdowns in which people should have to stay home, self-isolate and keep social distancing from friends and family members. Student stopped going to schools for many continuous months, while some of them applied home schooling for more than a whole academic year. All these restrictions had negative impact on people’s mental health, especially for children and young people.  Incidences of emotional disorders, such as depression and anxiety, phobias and other disorders are dramatically increased in young people after the reduction of the restrictions and they were commonly observed in school environments.

Schools are not only for educating people on how to read and write. It’s more than this. Through education children and young people learn how to communicate with others, to socialize, to express their feelings and deal with the negative ones, to become completed personalities and finally to fulfill their dreams.

In this context, schools have a significant role in improving student’s well-being. Psychoeducational programmes in the past, were proved to be beneficial for their mental health. As the mental health difficulties have been increased because of the pandemic, it’s a necessity to apply these programmes in schools for overcoming them and make students happy again.

This is a psychoeducational training programme for teachers and mental health workers, which focuses on how to overcome student’s mental health difficulties provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Who is this course for

This course is aimed at teachers and school staff from pre-school level to primary, secondary, vocational, adult and special needs education, staff of non-government organizations, government and policy makers and company staff as well as students and all those interested in innovative ways of using innovative methodologies in education to stimulate engagement and critical thinking. Participants are expected to have at least B1 level of English proficiency

Teachers, trainers, educators, school administrators, etc.

• School principals & directors (primary & secondary)
• Teachers (primary & secondary)
• Academic staff (tertiary)
• Directors & personnel in International coordination offices (tertiary)
• Entrepreneurs & people involved in startups (education)
• Social entrepreneurs
• Directors/managers (companies/NGOs)
• Personnel/staff responsible for the business development strategy of their organisation
• Individuals involved in startups, networks of excellence & innovation
• Trainers (formal & non formal education)
• Individuals with interest in entrepreneurship in relationship to education
• Parents

Description

Psychoeducational programmes in schools have been extremely beneficial for children’s mental health, in cases where needed. In this context, we believe that we can use the power and the impact of schools on children and young people in order to help them overcome the mental health difficulties that were expressed because of the pandemic.

Through this training we would like to enhance teachers and mental health workers knowledge and experience on how to create and apply psychoeducational programmes in schools, focused on dealing with emotional difficulties (depression and anxiety) and phobias, due to the pandemic. 

With the use of interactive lectures and experiential exercises participants will become confident on how to create and apply psychoeducational programmes in schools focused on the special mental health need of this time period.  

Objectives

By completing this course participants will:

• Understand the negative impact of the pandemic on children’s and young people mental health.
• Learn the clinical symptomatology of depression, anxiety and phobias that are commonly appeared after the pandemic in this population.
• In depth understand the importance of psychoeducational programmes in schools.
• Gain knowledge and personal experience on how to create and apply psychoeducational programmes in schools for dealing with the negative impact of the pandemic.
• Be educated on counselling techniques, efficient for children and young people with mental health difficulties.

Methodology

In this training we will introduce and analyze the negative impact of the pandemic on children’s mental health with the use of presentations and lectures which will include global data. Clinical cases will be presented for fully understand the symptomatology of emotional disorders (depression and anxiety) and phobias related to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

Participants will be educated on how to create a psychoeducational programme step-by-step, related to the pandemic and how to apply it in practice. In order to achieve this goal, we will do experiential exercises and role playing.

Also participants will be educated on counselling techniques for children and young people who deal with mental health difficulties, due to the pandemic.

Agenda/Course schedule

5 days programme

Day 1

• Welcoming and Introduction of the course programme  
• Presentation of participants  
• Ice-breaking activities  
• What is a psychoeducational programme and why it is important
• Discussion about the pandemic and the impact on mental health
• Personal stories about the difficulties of the pandemic and how they cope with them

Day 2

• Clinical symptomatology of depression, anxiety and phobias related to covid-19.
• Presentation of clinical cases of each disorder and discussion about their symptomatology.
• Discussion on how these symptoms were observed in school environments.

Day 3

• Presentation of psychoeducational programmes from the past and how they were applied in practice.
• A step- by-step guide on how to create a psychoeducational programme.
• Specific experiential exercises for depression, anxiety and phobias.

Day 4

• PRACTICE: Each participant will create a psychoeducational programme for a specific mental health difficulty in students at schools.
• Experiential exercises and role playing on how it can be applied in practice.
• Evaluation of the programme and feedback.

Day 5

• Presentation of suggested psychoeducational programmes for improving mental health difficulties in schools, because of the pandemic
• Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion
• Awarding of the Certificate of Attendance of the course

19.06 - 23.06.2023 Athens                     

04.09 - 08.09.2023 Larissa

16.10 - 20.10.2023 Thessaloniki