Luis Joaquín García, professor at the University of Jaén and main responsible for the Network, explained the keys of these two programs for the promotion of emotional wellbeing in adolescents, pioneers worldwide, with proven results in more than twenty young people from Extremadura.
31/10/2022.- Luis Joaquín García, professor at the University of Jaén (UJA) and head of the Network for the Promotion of Health and Emotional Wellbeing in Young People (RED PROEM) presented the initiatives for the promotion of emotional wellbeing in adolescents, PROCARE+ and PROCARE-i, to representatives of the Department of Education and Employment of the Regional Government of Extremadura.
The Head of the Educational Programs and Attention to Diversity Service, David Reyes, and the technician Lola Salguero had a telematic meeting with Luis Joaquín García to learn more concretely about the progress of this project and to assess its implementation in the Extremadura community.
PROCARE is an international pioneer program for the promotion of mental health in young people. It contains the first transdiagnostic initiatives of selective prevention (PROCARE+) and indicated prevention (PROCARE-I) aimed at young people who are at risk and at high risk of developing incipient emotional problems such as anxiety or depression. Both consist of 8 online or face-to-face group sessions that serve to provide adolescents with a series of emotional management tools. In addition, PROCARE+ includes personalized sessions to influence risk factors such as suffering or having suffered bullying or cyberbullying, insufficient filio-parental communication, stressful situations, or poor health habits (poor nutrition, low physical activity, inadequate sleep patterns and excessive use of new technologies), attending to the individual characteristics of each adolescent and social minorities.
“Through the implementation of PROCARE, we manage to reduce emotional distress and the risk of developing a future emotional problem. Likewise, its effectiveness in increasing quality of life, resilience, and the ability to manage intense emotions has been demonstrated,” explained Luis Joaquín García. “Thanks to the collaboration of the Regional Ministry of Education and Employment, more than twenty adolescents from Extremadura between 12 and 18 years old and their families benefited from this initiative in 2021. Our goal is to continue to spread this project among Extremadura schools and contribute to this emotional vaccine to strengthen young people in these complicated moments in the post-pandemic stage,” he said.
For his part, David Reyes expressed “the interest and commitment of the Junta de Extremadura to study and explore ways of collaboration that allow the implementation of PROCARE in our territory within the selective or indicated prevention in this academic year”. In this regard, he stressed “the commitment of the Ministry of Education and Employment for literacy in health and emotional well-being of young people in Extremadura, and the provision of resources for early detection and intervention of emotional problems in adolescents to educational staff and the school community”.
The PROCARE initiative is a nationwide project involving professionals from the Psychology Department of the UJA, the Rovira i Virgili University, the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the University of Miami (USA). In addition, the Youth Institute (INJUVE) of the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, the Spanish Association of Mutual Help against Social Phobia and Anxiety Disorders (AMTAES), the Confederation of Organizations of Psychopedagogy and Guidance of Spain (COPOE), the Youth group of the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Trans, Bisexual, Intersex and more (FELGTBI+) and the Youth Council of Spain are part of the External Advisory Council of the project.
