End of school year, time to take stock of YES

The two-day Youth Gathering on June 17 and 18, 2023, marked the conclusion of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Initiative’s (CAMHI) Youth Engagement Scheme (ΥΕS) for the 2022-2023 school year. YES aims to create a safe and structured space to listen, in a systematic way, to the voices of young people on issues related to their mental health, so that CAMHI’s educational activities always remain informed by the perspectives of children themselves.

The gathering, which took place in Athens, was attended by 26 teenagers, members of the four YES program Youth Advisory Groups from Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, and Alexandroupoli, representing the approximately 80 teens who participated in the program this year.

During the meeting, the teenagers had the opportunity to exchange opinions, experiences, and ideas related to the Youth Engagement Scheme and the activities they participated in.

The event was also attended by 21 educational affiliates and 15 CAMHI staff members who each played a part in the coordination, support, promotion, and evaluation of the Youth Advisory Groups’ work. The two-day event included many games, discussions, and creative activities, as well as video and photo screenings. Furthermore, participants showcased the activities organized in 40 public schools across Greece with over 1,600 students and educators, creating an opportunity to express particularly interesting and critical views on planning more relevant activities in school communities.

Additionally, educator affiliates and mental health professionals, members of the CAMHI Network in four cities, held discussions on the wider work of the Initiative, including dialogue workshops using the World Café methodology, allowing for more views about the future implementation of YES to be expressed. One of the gathering’s biggest highlights was the first public screening of the short film created by the Youth Advisory Groups, inspired by this year’s theme: stress and anxiety in adolescence.

Both youth and adults left the participatory two-day convening feeling invigorated. What was shared during the event showed a way forward for carefully planning the next steps aiming at activities that can improve the mental health of young people in Greece by including their voices at each step of the process. Listening to young people allows us to highlight new needs and improve training content development, activities, and other necessary institutional interventions under the CAMHI.

The feedback from the young people themselves at the closing of the meeting was telling: "If all of us here were in the same class together, I would be so happy to go to school"... And: "For me, everything we experienced here showed me what kind of people I want to have around me. And the kind of person I really want to become..."

For the 2023-2024 school year, YES will be implemented in Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Alexandroupoli, and Heraklion within the framework of CAMHI.