Youth: inclusion & social skills

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On March 23rd in London, UK, at the AER Spring plenary session, the workshop “Youth: Inclusion& social skills” will provide delegates with an opportunity to share experiences in the implementation of youth policies. They will identify implementation challenges as well as the success factors for regions.

Difficulty for young people to relate to others

Following the workshop in Izmir, TR in November 2016, the Sub-committee on Youth decided to focus its attention on the difficulties for young people to relate to others.

This topic covers a wide range of problems affecting the young generation. From the educational system which not always takes into account the changes occurring in our society, to the lack of outdoor social activities engaging young people. Problems in communication and reciprocate understanding are growing more and more.

Many regions across Europe encountered different problems among young people: drug and/or alcohol abuses, isolation, social media addiction and mental health problems. The big use of social media, for instance, is generating a new way of relating to other people, limiting sometimes the opportunities to actually have face-to-face discussions with peers. Difficulties on how to express themselves, on building own personality are increasing depression, lack of self-esteem, mental health problems.

The workshop will present some projects addressing these issues, in order to share good practices and discuss together how it is possible to intervene and which are the challenges to overcome.

Catalunya: a strong engagement for youth

Catalunya has always played a strong role in addressing youth policies. Regional commitments to help young people building their life projects, to empower them and guarantee a better quality of life for them.

The workshop will be an opportunity to see how Catalunya is dealing with the difficulties young people are facing. More specifically, Catalunya is addressing mental health among children and adolescents, in a transversal way: the departments in charge of health, education and youth work together. The main goal is to implement a common strategy on mental health at regional level and to coordinate the activities of the Government regarding the different issues: prevention, awareness, assessment, especially for young people.

Indeed mental health problems are associated with difficulties in emotional and intellectual development. Therefore the Catalan government is intervening at local level in order to prevent risky behaviours, to promote social skills and emotional education.

Work together

During the workshop the full set of measures implemented by Catalunya will be presented and participants will have the opportunity to jointly analyse elements of success and of transferability. Participants will also explore together opportunities for further cooperation, in particular for project development.