Studies concerning young people in Warsaw show that approximately 20% experience mental health problems that require support or intervention. In a report on Counteracting mental disorders in Children and Young People, the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) has pointed out the low number of places in which young people can get help. The average waiting time for the first appointment at a mental health clinic for young people in Mazowsze is three months, and the waiting period for regular help is even longer (National Health Fund, 2019). A survey we conducted in 2018 of 2500 lower-secondary school pupils showed that adults need to be mindful of the problems of young people. We know that young people are often treated unkindly by adults, or adults do not know how to provide help when it is needed.
The project aims to make psychological support more accessible and make independent and empower vulnerable young people with depression and anxiety.
We will circulate invitations to enter the project to schools and clinics in the Mazowiecki voivodship. We will form a therapy group (weekly meetings and one-on-one consultations; eighteen people), mindfulness training (breathing and relaxation techniques; three groups each of nine people) and parent workshops “I know and understand, and therefore support” (three groups each of sixteen people). People who have completed therapy will be able to join a self-advocacy support and activity group. This will prepare an online campaign, with psychological and technical support, about what mental health disorders are and the support that young people who experience them need from those around them.
Young people will overcome their difficulties and consolidate the effects of treatment, and also obtain a greater community support network to due to spreading of information among parents and people around them.
Young people (40 people aged 17-19) and their parents (48 people) will participate.