Mental health has landed in classrooms. A new pilot programme allows psychiatrists and psychologists to work directly in public schools in the capital in order to prevent mental disorders in the school environment.
The idea arises from a social need and a real problem that is increasingly serious, since the incidence of this type of disorder in children and adolescents is at historical highs.
It is an upward trend – not only in Spain, but worldwide – that does not subside, despite the fact that three years have passed since the Covid pandemic, which marked a turning point for many young people.
Both teachers and families are concerned about the alarming increase in cases of suicide attempts. So far this course, 1,426 suicide prevention protocols have already been activated. And self-harm – which was something very minority a few years ago – is becoming more frequent and begins earlier.
"It is a new form that has to do with social contagion and with a different expression of suffering and discomfort, which is increasing," explains psychiatrist Jorge Vidal at the Instituto la Estrella. This center, located in the Retiro district, is one of those participating in this pioneering project funded by the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation.
Teacher training
Vidal, a doctor at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, travels to this institute once a week to give talks to students and parents and train teachers.
Many times teachers are helpless in certain situations and need support tools to resolve numerous conflicts that are detected earlier at school than at home.
What if there is a child with problems? Vidal has a consultation with the child to assess the case and then talks to the families in order to see their family doctor.
The initiative is not based on practicing individual psychological consultations weekly, but on serving as a link between the educational center and the health center.
The training of teachers is another important leg of the program with the aim of discovering the warning signs as soon as possible. In fact, many teachers have already taken an online training course to have a base.
At the moment, the project has been launched in 13 centers in the area of influence of the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, thanks to an agreement signed between the Ministries of Education, Health and the Alicia Koplowitz Foundation.
The team is made up of psychiatrist Javier Camacho, clinical psychologist Lorena Freire, as well as Jorge Vidal, who travel to the centers in the districts of Retiro and Moratalaz-Vicálvaro once a week.
The duration of the pilot program is one year, but the idea is to extend it to the rest of the schools in the Community if the initiative reaps good results.
"We have enormous pressure with the mental health care of young people. Therefore, the directors of the centers make an exceptional assessment of this program because it gives security to teachers and families, "says Isabel Serrano, head of the Unit of Coexistence and against School Bullying of the Community.
Prevention
The project consists of five subprogrammes. One of them deals with the return to the center of those students who have been admitted for suicidal behavior.
It is a very delicate moment so you have to work with teachers, students and families so that the student feels protected when he returns to class.
The team of health professionals also attends to students who have already been diagnosed with a mental disorder. In this way, they collaborate with their health center in the design of the therapeutic plan and assess if there has been a change in the student throughout the intervention.
According to the director of the Instituto la Estrella, José Ignacio Díaz, the kids and families have received the program positively and, in fact, there is already a waiting list of families who attend the talks in small groups.
The management team of this institute, with 780 students, values that teachers have external help to face this type of problem.
One of the words most repeated by psychiatrist Jorge Vidal is prevention because the sooner the warning signs are detected, the milder the pathologies will be.
"The future of mental health has to go through prevention given the volume of cases that are happening. We cannot afford to just treat, but we need to prevent," he says.
In fact, if not treated in time, mental problems often lead to school dropout and academic failure in children and adolescents. To avoid this, it is also necessary to promote self-knowledge among students because, sometimes, they are not aware of what is happening to them.
This psychiatrist of the Gregorio Marañón advocates creating a socio-emotional subject to provide students with resources on how to face problems.
This measure is already being implemented in countries such as Finland, Norway or Denmark, where schools have programs focused on the development of social skills.
They are initiatives that improve the well-being and performance of students, reduce the incidence of depressive or anxiety disorders and improve the behavior of children in the school environment, thereby reducing conflicts.
Screening test for students
Another of the tools that the Community of Madrid has launched to prevent mental disorders are diagnostic screening tests, to which all Madrid educational centers, whether public, subsidized or private, have access.
According to Isabel Serrano, head of the Unit of Coexistence and against School Bullying of the Community, it is a survey that is carried out to students that measures 16 factors such as levels of self-esteem, depression or addiction to video games.
The test is carried out from 4th grade of Primary and to answer it the authorization of the family is necessary. The survey is answered in about 20 minutes and, throughout this course, it has already been carried out by about 11,000 students.
Once the test is completed, the results of the students are obtained automatically, through percentiles and the grouping of risk factors. For example, if a student has high percentiles in hopelessness, depression, low self-esteem and poor control of food, alarms will go off and the Guidance department will contact the student.
During the interview, the specialists will verify if the information obtained in the test is correct and, if so, the guidelines for action will be given to the student to improve their situation. If necessary, the family will be contacted to recommend the procedures to be followed or the referral to the health center.
These tests provide useful information to teachers, which is very difficult to obtain otherwise, and thus be able to work together with families and act as quickly as possible in order to remedy it as soon as possible.
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