The General Director of Family, Equality, Youth and Associations of the Seville City Council, Laura Martinez, has met telematically with the main responsible of these projects to open ways of collaboration and generate synergies in the field of emotional well-being of adolescents.
21/9/2023.- The Professor of Psychology at the University of Jaen (UJA) Luis Joaquin Garcia and the Director General of Family, Equality, Youth and Associations of the City of Seville, Laura Martinez, have met telematically to open avenues of collaboration and generate synergies around the emotional well-being of young people and adolescents in Seville.
During the meeting, Luis Joaquín García explained the keys to several of the initiatives launched by the PROEM Network to promote the health and emotional well-being of young people. First, the professor of the UJA has developed the results obtained in the implementation of PROCARE, the first transdiagnostic initiative of selective prevention at international level that has demonstrated its effectiveness in the intervention of adolescents at risk (PROCARE+) and at high risk (PROCARE-I) of developing emotional problems such as anxiety or depression; DAREMOS, a pioneering worldwide interdisciplinary initiative focused on the early identification of adolescents at high risk of developing emotional problems through the contributions of epigenetics and language analysis; and Level UP, whose objectives are to provide a new understanding of the transversal skills of higher education students, develop innovative educational material and tools for transversal skills training, and integrate all the material produced into an applicable framework for transversal skills training.
Luis Joaquín García then emphasized two proof-of-concept projects. On the one hand, PROADEMO (PDC2022-133401-I00/AEI/10. 13039/501100011033, PROmocionAnDo la salud y bienestar EMOcional de los adolescentes en el sector educativo, sanitario y la sociedad’), a project financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the State Research Agency and the European Union through the “Next Generation EU” funds within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which aims to design and develop a digital training package, aimed at school staff, health personnel, youth information point workers and young people themselves, so that they can improve their skills and knowledge to establish and provide mental health services to adolescents at risk of developing emotional problems as a result of the pandemic; and on the other Digitas, an online tool, equipped with evidence-based digital content and resources on social anxiety disorder and by extension other emotional disorders.
Finally, the UJA researcher informed him of the progress made in the PROEMO network (RED2022-134247-T) of excellence, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the State Research Agency. Its objective is to prepare a report and roadmap for 2025, aimed at detecting current deficiencies and providing recommendations for the promotion of the health and emotional well-being of adolescents. This network, coordinated by the UJA, has the participation of researchers from other national public and private universities such as the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, the Universidad Miguel Hernández, the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the Universidad de Almería, the Universidad de Deusto and the Universidad de Málaga, together with the Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), and an External Advisory Board integrated by the Instituto de la Juventud de España (INJUVE), attached to the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, Spanish Youth Council (CJE), the European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (ERYICA), the Princess of Girona Foundation (FPdGi), the Integral Health group of the FELGTBI+, the Confederation of Organizations of Psychopedagogy and Guidance of Spain (COPOE), the Asociación Española de Ayuda Mutua contra Fobia Social y Trastornos de Ansiedad (Amtaes), the Asociación Andaluza de Técnicos de Juventud (AATJ) and the Asociación Asturiana para la atención y el cuidado de la infancia (Asaci).
For her part, Laura Martínez has shown “the interest of the Seville City Council in the research work of the team led by Luis Joaquín García”. Specifically, she has stated that it will be evaluated along with other councils the possibility of implementing PROCARE in Seville capital. And in turn, has invited the team of the PROEM Network and the UJA to “participate in the agenda of activities that the City of Seville is preparing next Tuesday October 10 on the occasion of the commemoration of World Mental Health Day and its special impact on youth”.
