EMOTICOM

EMOTIonal management COMmunity after the pandemic

Nº 2022-1-CZ01-KA220-YOU-000089175

EMOTICOM

The pandemic has resulted in a growing mental health crisis in Europe: from anxiety and the psychological impact of lockdowns, to the effects of unemployment, financial worries and social exclusion – the mental health impact of the pandemic will be long-term and far-reaching.”

Impact of the Pandemic in Europe


The pandemic has resulted in a growing mental health crisis in Europe. Statement by Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Europe “From anxieties around virus transmission, the psychological impact of lockdowns and self-isolation, to the effects of unemployment, financial worries and social exclusion – the mental health impact of the pandemic will be long-term and far-reaching.”

Higher rates of Mental Health issues

The Health at a Glance Europe 2020 (OECD and European Commission) states “the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis caused a growing burden on the mental well-being of the citizens, with evidence of higher rates of stress, anxiety and depression. Young people and people in lower-income groups being considered at increased risk”. Different studies show that the pandemic has affected the mental health of young people and that they are disproportionally at risk of suicidal and self-harming behaviours. It also indicates that women have been more severely impacted than men.

Impact of COVID-19

An International Labour Organization survey found that due to the pandemic, 1 in 2 young people (aged 18–29 years) are subject to depression and anxiety. A research “Life During a Pandemic” (PAQ Research, IDEA AntiCovid initiative, NMS agency-SIMAR member) demonstrates that the 1st wave caused mental problems in 1 of 5 persons in Czech Republic. On April, 2020, 40% of youngsters (18-34 years) had big worries about the pandemic and 39% had partial worries. Symptoms of at least moderate depression or anxiety were most common in the spring and autumn waves among the youngsters under 24 years old (34%) and 25-34 years old (25%).

Gaps in care

The increase in the prevalence of mental health problems has coincided with severe disruptions to mental health services, leaving huge gaps in care for those who need it most. For much of the pandemic, services for mental, neurological and substance use conditions were the most disrupted among all essential health services. Many countries also reported major disruptions in life-saving services for mental health, including for suicide prevention.

Our Project

Our partnership aimed to take recovery measures to minimize the COVID impact in mental health, especially for vulnerable and marginalized youngsters who do not have easy access to mental health services.

Training course

A Training Course in Spain about Emotional Management and Mental Health. The main objective of the Training is to provide quality information on emotional management and its application to the social groups most affected by the pandemic.

Enhanced Knowledge for Involved Entities

We facilitated two participatory visits to acquire a wide range of tools on emotional management to counteract the mental effects of Covid-19 on youth and other emotional challenges, and learned how to support healing processes through creativity and mental health.

Provision of Non-Formal Education Tools

We implemented an online workshop to transfer tools and knowledge in the key areas that will compose our EMOTICOM Framework. Also, we created Didactic videos Creation to transfer the new EMOTICOM Framework

Raising Awareness and Quality Non-Formal Education

We conducted different activities such as Conferences, Consultation Periods, Internal Workshops, etc. The learning objectives were focused on developing emotional intelligence, understanding the difference between feelings and emotions, managing distressing memories and mental challenges, practicing self-awareness and empathy, fostering effective communication, recognizing the role of community in social change and becoming objective self-evaluators.

Dissemination of EM Approaches and Techniques

We launched a strong dissemination campaign targeting relevant youth and NFE stakeholders to share the project results and the Online Platform.

Alignment with EU Objectives

This project addressed the EU strategy for Education and Training’s objectives: making lifelong learning and mobility a reality, improving the quality and efficiency of education and training, and promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship.

Addressing EU Youth Goals 2019-27

The project focused on:

Mental Health & Wellbeing: Directly providing tools, resources, and strategies for youth’s EM.
Quality Learning: Offering innovative EM knowledge and resources to improve youth’s interpersonal, academic, and professional lives, as mental health affects all everyday interactions.
Inclusive Societies: Training on how to work with specific disadvantaged young groups and directly including participants with fewer opportunities.
Equality of All Genders: Highlighting oppressions suffered by youth, including gender-based issues, their emotional consequences, and how to address them.

This project was aligned with the core actions from the EU Youth Strategy to “engage, connect, and empower” EU youth and the EU Framework for Action on Mental Health and Wellbeing goals.

KEY NEEDS

Minimizing the COVID impact in Mental Health, especially for vulnerable and marginalized youngsters.

Through our focus group research, we identified several key needs that our project aims to address:

Partnership

Contribute in the recovery process, from those youngsters who have suffered mental challenges during the pandemic.
Develop an innovative Framework that can be a reference in Europe.
Build the EMOTICOM community that works in their mental health.

PETRKLÍČ HELP Z.S.

There was a need to have staff trained in emotional management that can apply those tools with their learners.
Be capable of raising awareness in youth communities.

Pasos

Be able of creating and maintaining communities of learners.
Acquire more reputation as an organisation with innovative expertise in Emotional Management.

CFCECAS

There was a need to have youngsters working, as communities, in different areas.
Have staff trained in healthy activities for the inclusion of youngsters with fewer opportunities.

Youth Workers

There was a need to increase resources to support youngsters in achieving better mental health.
There was a need to have staff trained in healthy activities for the inclusion of youngsters with fewer opportunities.

Youth Workers and Young People

Be capable of raising awareness in youth communities.
There was a need to develop emotional intelligence and becoming objetive self-evaluators.
There was a need to improve mechanisms for better social inclusion of youth, particularly disadvantaged groups.