Building a modern school community

An important area of human activity that can be linked in a variety of ways to mental health is education. Education does not only mean transferring knowledge with courses or obtaining a degree. Education for us means an interactive whole, such as the school community, which is the basis of the educational process that can not be neutral… The educational process is a process of liberation and the school community is a cell of every local community that gives feedback to one another. Thus, both the pedagogue-student and the student-pedagogue are both subjects of knowledge in front of the objects to be known.

Until recently, the idea or admission of the existence, or manifestation, of a mental illness at a young age was almost prohibitive and even a “taboo” for societies. Today the official diagnostic criteria (WHO, DSM) also include in mental disorders (eg childhood depression) children aged between 6 and 12 years.

Like any structured framework, the school has rules, requirements, and is a field of social exposure, where symptoms can occur, which may hide a mental disorder or other behaviors that need special care. These symptoms are often not recognized by the family.

The school community as a living organization consisting of groups of teams that interact with each other, and is either directly or indirectly involved in dealing with such incidents. Many times the coping process is time consuming, and as a result the support is lacking and is left to the ambitious efforts of the teacher in the class, who often does not have the required special knowledge to deal with the problem. At the same time, the active participation and involvement of the family in the management of the problem plays a decisive role.

The school community can play a leading role in our sectoral programs on mental health promotion, well-being, awareness and de-stigmatization of mental illness. First, to reap the benefits itself and second, to contribute to these goals as a living agent through interaction with the wider community.

Through our programs that concern the school community, we also seek the interconnection and cooperation of institutions that deal with related issues such as the environment and culture, that are represented by higher education institutions, cultural centers, environmental and health organizations. Through these collaborations, feedback is achieved, that can make a dynamic contribution to the psychosocial development of the community.