It’s called “Health of Words”, it was created by two clinical psychologists from the Algarve Regional Health Administration (ARS) and aims to promote children’s mental and emotional health.
The objective is to «promote healthy interactions and non-violent contexts», explains ARS/Algarve.
The project was born by Heloísa Dias and Sónia Nunes who brought together a set of activities in a pedagogical kit that allow you to work on skills and abilities with a special focus on communication, dialogue and constructive interactions.
The “Health of Words” teaching kit contains dozens of resources and dynamics that can be worked on with children aged 3 and over.
The kit includes a Support Manual, two books (“Memory and Elephant Ears” and “Let's grow and learn + at the Amendoeira School”), 80 navigation cards, 6 emotional cards (dice with images of different emotions), six signs navigation system, a Health of Words treasure map, two healthy mailboxes and a pen drive with all the content available for consultation, projection and printing.
«Emotions are the most basic form of language and we learn to recognize emotions in others innately», highlighted Paulo Morgado, president of the Board of Directors of ARS Algarve.
«Children's mental health is a problem that is very large and tends to get worse as the child gets older», continued Paulo Morgado, warning that «suicide is the second cause of death in adolescents and young adults” so “investment in the area of mental health is very efficient in making a society fairer and with fewer conflicts”.
In the first phase, 150 educational kits were purchased and will be made available by ARS Algarve to all 1st cycle school libraries in the region, the 16 health centers in the region, the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve and various community structures with relevant action in the area. health and child or youth education.
In the public presentation session of the project that took place this Monday, December 11th, at the headquarters of ARS Algarve, Alexandre Lima, regional delegate for Education in the Algarve, highlighted the importance of these synergies between health and education in favor of development of our children and expressed full support from the General Directorate of Algarve Schools for its implementation in schools and libraries in the region.
All this material presents relevant content within the scope of promoting mental and emotional health and can be used by technicians and professionals in the health, education and social areas, but also by anyone who identifies with the recommended approach and who wants to take on the role of a healthy and positive model of communication and interaction for children and young people.
The project was financed with ARS Algarve's own funds and financing from the European Social Fund, CRESC Algarve and Portugal 2020 Program, through the Saúde Algarve ONline Project.
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