"Looking forward": the YES stocktaking meeting in Thessaloniki

A meeting full of beautiful and useful experiences took place in Thessaloniki on 15 and 16 June 2024, at the end of this school year for the YES Youth Engagement Scheme, with the participation of 30 representatives of the Adolescent Advisory Groups of the 5 cities where the program is implemented, 4 former members of the YES, 15 teachers - partners, 15 members of the coordination team and 6 mental health professionals who framed and supported the meetings during the year.

The two-day program included warm-up games, exchanging memories and impressions, debating and engaging in creative activities in plenary and small groups, and many other activities. The program also included a review of the 7 adolescent meetings and the 3 "partner" teacher meetings held during the year, as well as the dialogue activities on mental health in schools. Furthermore, the meeting included a workshop to produce an evaluation tool to assess the participation and influence of YES on the teenage participants, a screening of short films made by the children themselves as part of a film project, and reflection tables with an eye to the future, using the "world cafe" method at the end of the project.

For a few hours the "partner" teachers had the opportunity to talk separately from the teens with mental health professionals from the Initiative, about what they had learned and what they expect for the future, while the teens with the team of facilitators and coordinators did their reflection, using colorful cardboard and a variety of materials that highlighted the strong and enjoyable aspects of the project, and making suggestions for the future.

From the two-day event, we are pleased that children from different cities in Greece met face-to-face and had experiences they will always remember. Enjoying wonderful moments together, they found common points of reference and discovered that they share common dreams and goals. Through their interaction, they left behind all kinds of contradictions and prejudices. This experience not only brought them closer together, but also inspired them to work together to achieve these goals, developing strong bonds of friendship and mutual respect.

As a conclusion, apart from the very pleasant impressions, the meeting brought out several useful suggestions from the participants, such as:

• Broaden the topics on mental health issues that the teenage groups deal with in their meetings
• Renew the teenage groups and make use of the contribution of the growing membership
• Promote selected YES audiovisual material on social media to raise awareness and awareness
• Carry out more systematic interventions in schools, involving more teachers and students,
• Organise existing pedagogical material so that it can be used by other teachers in schools
• Organise open training meetings on topical issues of concern to educational communities
• Produce materials to raise awareness and inform parents

"Everyone's expectation is that the next day will further strengthen our ties and give us strength to effectively address the current challenges concerning the mental health of children and adolescents in our country," said the general coordinator of the YES project, George Moschos, after the meeting.

The Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) is implemented by the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative in partnership with the Child Mind Institute, with the exclusive support of Stavros Niarchos Foundation(SNF). It is part of the SNF's Global Health Initiative (GHI), as are all of CAMHI's programs.