Suicidal behavior has become the main reason for psychological consultation among young people under 30, according to data from the ANAR Foundation. 4.9% of adolescents have thought about committing suicide at one time or another26% had symptoms of moderate depression and 20% suffered from symptoms of moderate anxiety, according to the Psice study, prepared among others by the General Council of Psychology in Spain. Aware of this problem, the Community of Madrid announced yesterday the launch of a pioneer unit which will study how to improve, from the educational field, the mental, social and emotional health of the youngest.
“We will benefit from the advice of specialists to face the growing problems of discouragement, depression or addictions that are observed at increasingly younger ages,” explained the president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, during her visit to the Public School of Preschool Education. Primary School (CEIP) Daoiz and Velarde (Alcobendas) to inaugurate the 2024/25 school year, which begins in the region with 64,435 teachers, 7,496 more teachers and professors (13.2%) than those of the 2019/20 academic year.
This pioneering initiative, which will be led by José Antonio Luengo, dean of the Official College of Psychology of Madrid and located within the Higher Institute of Educational Innovation of Madrid (ISMIE) to improve the mental health of students in the region, will involve a team of experts who “will carry out work on the subject social and emotional applied to coexistence, the study of the repercussions of the use and abuse of screens or the consumption of addictive substances”, details the Ministry of National Education in a press release.
More programs
In the same spirit, adds the regional government, they will continue to strengthen other existing programs such as the Henka Growing in Emotional Well-being project, which makes available to the entire school community courses and workshops that reach 75,000 students spread across 136 centers. Similarly, approximately 550 courses will continue to be offered on the responsible use of technology, the dangers of alcohol and drug use and the importance of mental health in general.
Likewise, they signed two new agreements with the Zurich Foundation and Mutua Madrileña, which will be added to those in force with the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation and the Nemesio Díaz Foundation, to extend five new clinical teams specializing in these subjects and composed of a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist specializing in mental health and a registered nurse from more than 100 ordinary schools and institutes and all the special education schools in the region.
