The researcher of the University of Jaén (UJA) Manuel Vivas met with José Miguel Morales, director of Andalucía Acoge, to evaluate joint actions such as emotional support to young people of the Palestinian people through PROCARE.
5/03/2024.- The Network for the PROmotion of adolescent health and EMOtional well-being (PROEMO) and Andalucía Acoge met to evaluate joint actions such as emotional support for young people from the Palestinian people and to strengthen ties around the next phase of the development of materials for the project ‘PROmocionAnDo la salud y el bienestar EMOcional de los adolescentes en el sector educativo, sanitario y la sociedad’ (PROADEMO) and PROEMO’s roadmap towards 2025.
Manuel Vivas, researcher at the University of Jaén (UJA), presented to José Miguel Morales, director of Andalucía Acoge, the keys to these three projects to promote the health and emotional well-being of young people, led by UJA.
First, they discussed the possibility of undertaking joint actions such as the implementation with their own resources of the initiative ‘Selective prevention through a transdiagnostic intervention for adolescents at risk of emotional problems’ (PROCARE), with the aim of providing emotional support to young people of Palestinian origin, who are currently experiencing difficult times.
PROCARE is the first transdiagnostic selective prevention initiative at the international level that has demonstrated its efficacy in the intervention of adolescents at risk (PROCARE+) and at high risk (PROCARE-i) of developing emotional problems such as anxiety or depression.
PROCARE (PID 2019-111138RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) is a project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, with the participation of professionals from the Department of Psychology at UJA, Rovira i Virgili University, Miguel Hernández University of Elche and the University of Miami (USA). In addition, the Instituto de la Juventud (INJUVE), attached to the Ministry of Youth and Children, the Asociación Española de Ayuda Mutua contra Fobia Social y Trastornos de Ansiedad (AMTAES), the Confederación de Organizaciones de Psicopedagogía y Orientación de España (COPOE), the Youth Group of the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gais, Trans, Bisexuales, Intersexuales y más (FELGTBI+), the Consejo de la Juventud de España (CJE) and the Fundación Princesa de Girona are part of the project’s External Advisory Board.
On the design and development of the digital training package and the set of practical tools, aimed at school personnel, health personnel and youth workers, as well as for the preparation of the emotional help kit for adolescents, José Miguel Morales indicated the need to deepen the leadership and team management skills of professionals working with young people, to be able to manage the climate in their areas of action. “In this way, through emotional intelligence and self-knowledge, professionals will be able to know and manage their emotions before dealing with adolescents, generating empathy and learning to manage frustration”.
Likewise, the director of Andalucía Acoge considered that it would be “interesting to include a life project in the materials, which would serve as a goal and motivation for adolescents to work on values”. As for the format, he pointed out the suitability of an audiovisual format, “preferably video, in which adolescents and adults with charisma appear, to serve as possible references”.
PROADEMO (PDC2022-133401-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) has funding from 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. It aims to improve the skills of professionals and young people themselves to contribute to providing quality mental health services to adolescents at risk of developing emotional problems.
Regarding the shortcomings detected in PROEMO’s roadmap, José Miguel Morales stressed “the saturation of the staff working with adolescents and the lack of time to deal with the different situations that arise on a daily basis”. In this sense, as priorities to be taken into account, he valued the need “not to treat adolescents as someone alien, but to foster the relationships created between professionals and adolescents through different synergies”.
For its part, PROEMO is a research network (RED2022-134247-T) funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the State Research Agency, through the State Program to promote scientific-technical research and its transfer, within the framework of the State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research 2021-2023.
The External Advisory Council of PROADEMO and the PROEMO Network is made up of entities such as the Spanish Youth Institute (INJUVE), attached to the Ministry of Youth and Children, the Spanish Youth Council (CJE), the European Youth Information and Counseling Agency (ERYICA), the Princess of Girona Foundation (FPdGi), the Integral Health group of the FELGTBI+, 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 Andalusian Association of Youth Technicians (AATJ) and the Asturian Association for the attention and care of children.
The Andalucía Acoge Federation was founded in 1991 to provide a more effective and comprehensive response to the then incipient phenomenon of immigration, and has set as its main objective the construction of a plural and inclusive society that guarantees equal rights and opportunities for all persons residing in Spain. It is currently made up of nine associations that carry out their work in 21 centers throughout Andalusia and Melilla. Thanks to the efforts of around 400 people -a large number of them volunteers-, the Federation serves thousands of people every year.
