Civic Mental Health Promotion Programme in Radom County
We decided to address the mental health of children and young people because, according to data from the Polish National Police Headquarters, Radom has for years been among the major Polish cities with the highest rate of suicide attempts among this age group. At the same time, access to specialist support in our city remains seriously insufficient and not adequately promoted.
Mental health difficulties among children and young people were also not addressed in the only existing strategic document prepared at the request of the local authorities.
We therefore established a participatory working group tasked with developing a Civic Mental Health Promotion and Mental Health Disorders Prevention Programme for Children and Young People.
We invited parents of children experiencing emotional difficulties, staff and volunteers from Radom-based NGOs working with children and young people experiencing emotional crises, staff from the Municipal Social Welfare Centre and local schools, as well as psychiatrists.
We also organised a public debate on the support system for children experiencing mental health difficulties in Radom.
Through the project, we have drawn the attention of local authorities, institutions and the wider community to the urgent issue of mental health among children and young people.
A citizens’ initiative to collect signatures is currently underway, with the aim of having the programme we developed formally adopted by the authorities of Radom.
Project Information
The “Civic Mental Health Promotion Programme” project is funded by the Active Citizens Fund – National Fund, financed by the EEA Grants.