It is a formative-cultural meeting organized by the Euro-Latin American Youth Center (CEULAJ) of INJUVE.
The researcher of the University of Jaen (UJA) and of the initiatives DAREMOS and PROCARE Pilar Martinez participated in the International Festival “New Youth Culture”, organized by the Euro-Latin American Youth Center (CEULAJ) in Mollina (Malaga) from June 23 to 26.
It is an educational-cultural meeting, with various artistic, musical, film, gastronomic and sports activities, among other disciplines. In addition, there was an extensive program of workshops and debates with renowned experts and influencers among young people on current issues that are key to their lives, such as mental health and sex education.
Specifically, Pilar Martínez took part in one of the festival’s round tables, entitled ‘Dialogue on mental health: we can’t take it anymore. The Burnt-out Generation’. She was joined by Roger Muñoz, psychologist and professor at the University of Valencia; and Margarita Guerrero, director of Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana Europa and vice-president of the Spanish Youth Council (CJE).
In her speech, Pilar Martínez presented the work carried out by DAREMOS and PROCARE, two initiatives to promote health and emotional well-being for young people. She also emphasized several points that are part of the lines of action of the Youth Strategy 2030 to promote the integral health and quality of life of young people. “It is important to address the determinant risk factors for the mental health of people in development from the educational and institutional spheres. It is crucial to increase the number of psychology professionals in schools as this is the only valid way to identify risk factors and address them before they lead to a significant deterioration of our young population. These types of strategies are based on prevention as a means to guarantee a future with emotionally healthy people” in line with DAREMOS and PROCARE to help at-risk youth, the researcher pointed out. This is in line with what was expressed by the general director of the Spanish Youth Institute, María Teresa Pérez, who pointed out that the Strategy proposes incorporating psychologists in the educational field, in a similar way to the employment counselor, so that they can attend to mental health problems from “close and safe” spaces.
Likewise, Pilar Martínez stressed the need to take into account elements such as the suicide rate in the young population or the excessive medicalization of certain problems, objectives addressed in the government document Spain 2050 published by the Spanish Government’s National Foresight and Strategy Office.
In turn, he indicated as another point to be taken into account the special attention to the most vulnerable groups such as LGTBQI+, migrants or young people with some type of functional diversity, to address the specific problems that arise as a result of the stress to which these minorities are subjected.
Finally, he emphasized the claim by the experts of the PROEM Network for “specialization in youth mental health to provide professionals with the necessary tools to identify the problems that arise in young people”. “This type of specialization will allow not only to provide individual solutions for each person, but also to be able to recognize the specific demands and needs of the young population in order to transfer them to the legislating bodies and institutions that work with young people,” he concluded.
The aim of this festival, promoted by the Youth Institute (INJUVE) is to give the opportunity to more than a hundred young people from diverse backgrounds and trajectories to acquire a practical learning of the values of the European project, such as respect for human dignity, democracy, human rights, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, such as responsible production and consumption, gender equality, climate action and quality education.
