There is an ever-growing need for mental health promotion and the prevention of mental health problems among young people in Europe, who often face isolation, depression and lack of meaning. Highway to mental health is a KA2 Strategic partnership that aims to respond to this need and come up with innovative solutions, by developing new educational resources for promoting the mental health of youth. The intellectual outputs resulting from the project will consist of a handbook for mental health promotion and an e-learning platform and will be created in cooperation by the experts in four mental health organizations from Iceland, Romania, Spain and Poland. The main theme of the educational tools is Emotional resilience and its sub-components will be: expressing and integration of emotions, strengthening social relationships, community and nature anchored life as a protective factors, empowerment, self-compassion, healthy lifestyle. The development of these outputs will rely on a series of five transnational experts and team members meetings, work in local teams and testing the outputs in two short term joint staff events and a blended mobility for young people.
Its specific objectives were: to develop the competencies in non-formal education for youth workers from mental health organizations; to increase the capacity of youth workers to use non-formal education in developing the emotional resilience of youth and prevent mental health problems; and to develop accessible e-tools and methodologies for leading non-formal education activities on mental health topics, to be used by youth workers around Europe.
Highway to mental health was developed as a response to the increasing need for mental health support and mental health education among young people. Prevention of mental health challenges requires a more concerted effort and youth workers that are well equipped with knowledge and tools to carry the respective actions. Emotional resilience is the capacity to face life challenges and to bounce back from difficulties, which makes it an essential element in the development of a person. Therefore, the project aimed to create comprehensive learning materials and experiences for strengthening the emotional resilience of young people.