A discussion on the mental health of children and youth opened the 1st Children and Youth Health Congress.
During the congress, the results of the Heads Up project were discussed. Dr. Hab. n. o zdr. Dorota Kleszczewska, president of the board of the Mother and Child Institute Foundation, drew attention to the importance of raising the level of health competences, health literacy, among young people. She emphasized that those whose health awareness increases – for example, thanks to projects implemented by NGOs, start to make wise health choices more often than their peers, or at least limit clearly harmful behaviors. In this context, as she said, it would be particularly important to introduce – as experts have been calling for for years – the subject of “health knowledge”. But she also emphasized that the knowledge about the needs of young people – real needs, also in the field of mental well-being – is currently so large, among others, thanks to international research and projects such as Heads Up, that schools should slightly modify their “habits”. – And, for example, refrain from conducting difficult tests and quizzes during the first hour of classes, when young people’s brains are not yet functioning optimally. Virtually all experts participating in the discussion agreed on the urgent need to introduce health literacy classes.
Dr. Kleszczewska echoed this, speaking about the ubiquitous feeling of loneliness among young people. Among 17-year-old boys, almost one in four declares that they feel lonely all the time, and the rest feel this way, according to their own assessment, very often. Even more frequent feelings of loneliness are felt by 15-year-old girls: almost 40% of them feel lonely all the time, and among girls two years older, this percentage is only slightly lower. At the same time, the expert explained that for young people, the Internet is not an artificial or parallel world – in it, apart from negative phenomena and dangers, a large part of their real life takes place, contacts are maintained, friendships are maintained or established. It is important to use this tool for good purposes. That is why Heads up is also creating a comic book and a social campaign for young people
The following people took part in the discussion:
– Damian Marciniak, Director of the Department of Mental Health at the Office of the Patient Rights Advocate
– Dr Aleksandra Lewandowska, National Consultant in the Field of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
– Prof. Małgorzata Janas-Kozik, Plenipotentiary of the Minister of Health for the Reform of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
– Urszula Szybowicz, President of the Niewidzi Po mnie Foundation
– Dr. n. o zdr. Dorota Kleszczewska, President of the Management Board of the Institute of Mother and Child Foundation