November 2024

The YES program publishes a special edition, the report "Listening to Children's Views on Mental Health: Two Years of Meetings, actions, experiences " which was compiled on the occasion of the completion of the second school year of the YES Youth Engagement Scheme. Here we present the methodology of the program, some typical actions, pictures ,and opinions expressed by adolescents - members of YES and other children who participated in dialogue activities in schools, as well as the main findings and recommendations resulting from this program to date.
You can read or download the report in Greek by clicking here.

October 2024

The applications for the Youth Advisory Groups of CAMHI's YES Youth Εngagement Scheme are open from 6 to 26 October in Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Heraklion and Alexandroupolis.

• If you are 13 to 17 years old and like to participate in fun and creative activities with children your age...
• If you are interested in giving your opinion and discussing issues related to teenagers' life and mental health with your peers..
• If you like organising an activity in your school to promote expression, dialogue, and communication..
• If you can commit to attending the teen group meetings in your town once a month (see below for dates and times)

Then:

• Talk to your caregivers,
• Find at least one teacher who will agree to be your partner in the project (partners do not come to our meetings, but assist you in organizing, at school or elsewhere, dialogue activities on the topics we will choose together)

and .... SAY YES!

You'll find the application (in Greek) HERE

You have questions? Feel free to contact us here: [email protected]

You want to take a glimpse of the videos created by YES teams? Find them here

MEETINGS SCHEDULE

The following are the dates of the Teen Advisory Group meetings ( locations to be announced soon). They will be 4 hours long with a break, except for the first one which will last 6 hours to get to know each other better)

Athens : Saturdays 3.00 -7.00 pm (2/11, 7/12, 11/1, 1/2, 8/3, 5/4, 3/5)

Thessaloniki: Saturdays 3.00 -7.00 pm (16/11, 14/12, 18/1, 8/2, 15/3, 5/4, 10/5)

Ioannina: Sundays 3.00 -7.00 pm (3/11, 15/12, 12/1, 2/2, 9/3, 6/4, 4/5)

Heraklion: Saturdays 3.00-7.00 pm (9/11, 7/12, 11/1, 8/2, 15/3, 12/4, 10/5)

Alexandroupolis: Sundays 3.00-7.00 pm (10/11, 15/12, 12/1, 9/2, 16/3, 13/4, 11/5)

September 2024

For the new school year, 2024 - 2025, CAMHI's Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) invites secondary school teachers to participate in Local Networks of Teachers - Partners of the program. These Networks are to be set up again this year in Athens, Thessaloniki, Alexandroupolis, Ioannina and Heraklion. Interested teachers can find the program of the meetings and all the information to participate and become members of the Local Network of Teachers - Partners by clicking on the invitation document here (in Greek only).

August 2024

As it did last year, the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative has just published a report detailing how the Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) activities were designed and implemented in schools during the 2023-2024 school year. The report presents the activities implemented in schools by members of the YES Youth Advisory Groups, in collaboration with their partner-teachers, to promote dialogue and student participation.

The central theme of CAMHI's YES Programme this year was "Relationships in Adolescence",  particularly focusing on teenagers' relationships at school and in their peer groups. According to feedback reports from partner-teachers, the activities were conducted in 61 schools, with the assistance of 70 teachers and the participation of 3,000 students. 27 actions took place in secondary schools, 26 in general secondary schools, 5 in secondary vocational schools (EPAL), 3 in vocational high schools (ENEEGYL), and 1 in the neurodevelopmental center "Monorodi".

The report describes the design and implementation of the dialogue actions in the schools, the answers of the students to a questionnaire that was completed as a trigger for the discussions, observations of the partner-teachers who undertook the implementation of the actions in their schools as well as challenges or difficulties that may have arisen in order to feed and enrich the planned actions in the next school year. With this release today, our team would like to express our gratitude to all the teachers who collaborated with us during the 2023- 2024 school year, contributing their valuable experience and dedication to strengthening the dialogue within school communities.

Read the report (in Greek only) by clicking here

June 2024

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 of the YES Youth Engagement Scheme, with the participation of 30 members of the Youth 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 accompanied and supported the meetings during the year. The two-day program included getting-to-know-you games, exchange of memories and impressions, dialogue and creative activities in plenary and small groups, a review of the 7 adolescent meetings and the 3 partner 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 hold separate meetings with CAMHI mental health professionals, 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 gained 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

April 2024

A special action was organized in Thrace, in the framework of the Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) of Child & Adolescent Mental Health Initiative, in its second year of operation. Alongside the 5 Adolescent Advisory Groups that operated in the 5 cities of its hub cities, this action was planned to take place at the Soufli High School, which is attended by an equal number of Muslim and Christian students. Its title was "Me and You Together". A group of children, with different religions and first languages, explored together issues of identity, emotions, diversity, relationships and social interaction, through games and improvisations, using theatre techniques, under the coordination of the animator Lia Voulgaridou and in close cooperation with teachers of the school and a CAMHI psychologist.

The action included 7 meetings in Soufli and one in Alexandroupolis, in early April, at the art space 'Art Attack'. There the Soufli group met with the members of the Adolescent Advisory Group of Alexandroupolis, got to know each other better, and presented short theatrical sketches that the children had prepared themselves, and then they did improvisations, games and free discussions together. The whole meeting had a festive character, with predominant feelings of joy and satisfaction. Children, initially unknown to each other, played, got to know each other, exchanged different experiences, ate together, created sketches and demonstrated in practice ways in which teenagers can cooperate and communicate, overcoming differences, prejudices and stereotypes. This activity highlighted the importance for all children, especially for groups of children with different languages, religions and backgrounds, to learn to co-exist, communicate and share dreams, joys, worries, difficulties and perspectives.

October 2023

In October 2023 our Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) invited girls and boys born between 2007 and 2010 who were interested in participating in one of the Youth Advisory Groups (in Greek, ESO) that operate in Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Ioannina and Alexandroupolis, to apply by filling in the relevant form. Each ESO would meet once a month in each of the above cities. Applications were open from 2 to 20 October 2023.

Learn more about the Youth Engagement Scheme here and find the ESOs' action report for the school year 2022-2023 (here)

Finally, watch the videos created by the ESO teams in 2023 on the topic "Anxiety and stress in adolescence" in our YouTube channel.

September 2023

CAMHI's Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) invited secondary school teachers to informative sessions about how to participate in Local Networks of Teachers - Partners of CAMHI. These Networks are established again this new school year in the cities of Athens, Thessaloniki, Alexandroupoli, Ioannina and Heraklion -Crete.

September 2023

Four short films about stress, altogether totalling seven minutes, is the product of a group collaboration and was created by teenagers through a filmmaking workshop coordinated and guided by the filmmaker Anastasis Mavrogiannis. The videos are part of the Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) of CAMHI. The idea of producing short films about anxiety and stress in adolescence - which was the main theme of the Scheme throughout the school year 2022-23 - was presented in the cities where the programme was implemented this year (Alexandroupolis, Thessaloniki, Ioannina and Athens).

Learn more about the news here

To watch the videos and subscribe to CAMHI's YouTube channel, click here

August 2023

With a special publication, CAMHI published a report on the activities of YES during the school year 2022 - 2023. The aim of this publication was twofold: On the one hand, to serve as a souvenir for those children and adults who took part in the program this year and, on the other hand, to give the footprint of the program to those who want to learn more, either to connect with CAMHI in the future or to get ideas for actions they want to do in other youth spaces.

Find out more here

July 2023

Official closing of the school year for CAMHI with the publication of a report detailing how the YES Youth Engagement Scheme (YES) activities were planned and implemented in schools during 2022-2023. The report presents all the actions implemented in schools by members of YES Youth Advisory Groups, in collaboration with their partner -teachers, in order to promote dialogue and student participation.

Read the full story here [in Greek]

February 2023

On Sunday 5.3.2023 CAMHI organized a "Day of Dialogue on Anxiety and Stress in Adolescence", at the Youth Centre of the Municipality of Heraklion (Korai Street). Find more information HERE [in Greek].

January 2023

In January, the Youth Advisory Groups met in the 4 cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Alexandroupolis and Ioannina) and started to discuss YES' main theme of the year: "Anxiety - stress in adolescence", which the children themselves had chosen to jointly address.

In each city, small sub-groups were created to prepare and present various works by the children (prose texts, poems, paintings, theatre performances, etc.). In between the in-person group meetings, the children kept in contact with each other, exchanging news and views and taking part in competitions that consolidated the identity of the group and its purpose. During the February meetings, actions were prepared in schools in collaboration with mental health professionals, who answered children's questions, exchanged views with them, and listened to their own views. At the same time, additional new actions were prepared, for which there was great interest and enthusiasm.

December 2022

Following an open call, the Youth Engagement Scheme -YES- received more than 160 applications from adolescents aged 13 to 17 years old for the Youth Advisory Groups established in Athens, Thessaloniki, Alexandroupolis and Ioannina. Concerning Heraklion, Crete, an Open Dialogue Day was scheduled for Sunday 05.03.23 with students offering insights and views on the topic of anxiety and stress in adolescence.

During December, the teenage members of the groups were selected based on representativeness and inclusiveness criteria. Their first meetings were held successively in the 4 cities. A total of 82 children took part in the meetings, which were aimed at getting to know each other, agreeing on the group's functioning principles and modus operandi, highlighting the most important issues that, according to the teenagers themselves, concern their peers, and exchanging ideas on the activities of each group. Additionally, the first contact was made with the mental health professionals of the programme. The meetings included games, discussions and creative projects.