The proposal seeks to enhance care given to minors under the National Healthcare System’s new strategy and to promote emotional mental health and well-being as one of the strategic lines within the Spanish National Research Plan
You can donwload the full content of the PNL proposal in this link: https://redproem.es/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/PNL_Ciudadanos_Registro.pdf
6/03/2019.- The parliamentary group Ciudadanos presented a non-legislative proposal (Proposición No de Ley; PNL) before the Congress of Deputies on improving and promoting emotional health and well-being in young people, an initiative undertaken by the Network for PROmoting mental health and EMotional well-being in Adolescents (Red PROEMA), led by the University of Jaén (UJA).
In the proposal, Ciudadanos urged the government to include the promotion of youth mental health and emotional well-being as a strategic line within the Spanish National Research Plan, specifically in the challenge area of Health, Demographic Change and Well-being, and to develop and enhance care for minors under the National Healthcare System’s new mental health strategy.
This initiative has been promoted by Ciudadanos on the basis of information shared by the PROEMA network and the meeting held several weeks ago between Luis Joaquín García, lecturer with the Department of Psychology at the UJA, and Marta Martín Llaguno, Member of Parliament and spokesperson for Ciudadanos with the Commission for Education and the Commission for Science, Innovation and Universities. During the meeting, they analysed the report and roadmap on the current situation regarding mental health and emotional well-being in young people drawn up by the PROEM network to try and establish policies for action surrounding the emotional problems that young people in Spain experience.
“The emotional disorders that arise during childhood and adolescence can impact on the overall development of children and youth, as they affect all areas of human functioning”, highlights Luis Joaquín García. From this perspective, he adds: “when they occur at these ages they are usually associated with negative consequences in their family and social relationships or in their academic performance.” If emotional problems are not detected very early on, the economic, social, healthcare and education costs increase.
The PROEMA network’s PI also states that “mood disorders are the least identified problems in young people; as such, this non-legislative proposal seeks to contribute towards securing greater investment in youth health and emotional well-being”. “This commitment will make it possible to allocate resources to research, driving forward, among other things, the implementation of an evidence-based early detection protocol by professionals in the healthcare and education fields, with these experts having received training from health and clinical psychologists”. As highlighted in the document drawn up by the PROEM network (www.redproem.es), “there is no future without emotionally healthy adolescents”, he says.
The proposal was presented before the Education and Vocational Training Committee, pending possible amendments by other parliamentary groups for its subsequent approval and implementation.
The PROEMA network comprises members specialising in mental health and other areas from different universities: Luis Joaquín García, team representative from the University of Jaén; Juan Antonio Moriana from the University of Córdoba; Antonio Cano from the Complutense University of Madrid; Josefa Canals from the Rovira i Virgili University; Maite Garaigordobil from the University of the Basque Country; Esther Calvete from the University of Deusto; and José Antonio Piqueras from Miguel Hernández University, alongside other partners.
