Higher education students can request, from today, September 30, psychology and nutrition consultations, under a program that covers public and private institutions.
Requests can be made through the Government's new official website (gov.pt), launched today.
The program is the result of two protocols signed with the orders of nutritionists and psychologists that will allow the provision, in the current academic year (2024-2025), of 100 psychology consultations and 50 nutrition consultations.
According to the Minister of Youth and Modernization, all higher education institutions have joined the initiative and checks will be issued for this purpose depending on the number of students.
Students will be able to choose the professional they want to book an appointment with, with a list of 297 psychologists and 208 nutritionists from across the country who have joined the initiative.
The program, with a cost of 2.250.000 euros in 2024 and around 5,6 million euros in 2025, is managed through a platform to which educational institutions have access.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency at the beginning of September, Minister Margarida Balseiro Lopes highlighted that, after the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a 50% increase in the demand for psychology consultations, with anxiety being the most common mental health problem among young people.
In terms of nutrition, the minister cited a survey that revealed that there are currently only five nutritionists in all Portuguese higher education institutions.
On Wednesday, the president of the Psychologists Association, Francisco Miranda Rodrigues, argued that the psychological checks now launched for higher education students should be a trial run to extend the measure to other populations with mental health problems.
For the leader of psychologists, the current Government has shown openness to the issue of mental health and has kept promises to hire professionals made in the past.
However, there are difficulties in accessing psychology consultations, due to the lack of contributions, and the president admitted that this work requires “regular periodic monitoring with short intervals of time and with a service time that is not comparable to the times of medical consultations” in health centers.
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