Inmaculada Nieto is coordinator of the Provincial Technical Team for Educational and Vocational Guidance (ETPOEP) of the Territorial Delegation of Education of Córdoba. She recently participated as a speaker at the International Meeting ‘For the health and emotional well-being of young people’, led by the Professor of Psychology at the University of Jaén (UJA) and main responsible for the initiatives DAREMOS and PROCARE, Luis Joaquín García, at the headquarters Antonio Machado of the International University of Andalusia (UNIA).
During her visit to Baeza, we talked with her about the objectives of the ETPOEP, about the implementation of the PROCARE initiative in the educational centers of Cordoba and about the training given by UJA researchers among ETPOEP members.
Question: – What are the functions of the Provincial Technical Team for Educational and Vocational Guidance (ETPOEP)?
Inmaculada Nieto: – The ETPOEP is a specific team of counselors in charge of grief intervention and suicide prevention in educational centers in the province of Cordoba. In that sense, we try to go to the centers, in those cases where it is necessary, to advise their professionals on grief management and give them guidelines for suicide prevention and intervention in cases of suicide. In addition, we also focus on the continuous training of our professionals.
Question: – How do you value your experience with the PROCARE project?
Inmaculada Nieto: – It has been very positive. First of all, we disseminated the information about PROCARE in the educational centers. The response and participation was not massive, despite the fact that there are usually calls from centers demanding intervention programs on the emotional problems suffered by adolescents. Subsequently, Luis Joaquín García presented us the results obtained and we valued that the interesting thing is to continue disseminating this program among counselors so that they know about it and take it into account as another resource.
In this sense, PROCARE has been for the ETPOEP an important way of contact with the University of Jaén in general and with the team led by Luis Joaquín García, in particular. It has been an initiative that has contributed to improve the training of our professionals”.
Question: – From the results of PROCARE and from your day-to-day work in the centers, what is the current mental health situation of adolescents between 12 and 18 years of age in Córdoba?
Inmaculada Nieto: – The increase of students with anxiety disorders, self-harm, depressive symptoms or serious behavioral disorders is a reality. This is both the subjective and objective perception that teachers transmit to us through their experience and the figures and data they collect. In this sense, we value the good coordination with the Mental Health Units, although this increase is causing them to be overwhelmed and suffer from it on a daily basis. Therefore, it is important to implement initiatives such as PROCARE.
Question: – From your point of view, what proposal do you think would improve the approach to mental health problems in young people?
Inmaculada Nieto: – It would be necessary to draw up a plan that would delimit the coordination between these three legs: mental health, education and social services. A plan that was already established and that would not be arbitrary, at the expense of the personal interest of the counselors in carrying out this coordination. Therefore, I believe that there is a lack of a comprehensive and systematized plan to guide action in cases of this type, as well as to promote strategies at the center level to encourage prevention before dramatic situations occur.
