"Crazy? So what! - Mentally fit at school"
Start of the prevention programme for Chemnitz pupils from Year 8 onwards on 29 January at the Annenschule in Chemnitz
On Monday, 29 January, the prevention programme "Crazy? So what! - Mentally fit at school" prevention programme for pupils from Year 8 at Annenschule.
For one school day, a team consisting of a specialist expert such as a psychologist or social worker and a personal expert who has overcome mental crises will visit school classes to talk openly with them and their teachers about the big and small issues surrounding mental health. Typical topics discussed include pressure to perform, bullying, parental separation, illness in the family, addictions and worries about the future. The highlight of this special school day is the exchange with the personal expert. The pupils learn from him what depression or psychosis feels like, where help is available and what they themselves, friends, parents and teachers can do about it.
Other Chemnitz schools will follow, with Georg-Weerth-Oberschule next on 5 February.
The programme is offered at over 80 locations in 12 federal states, as well as in Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The patron of the nationwide programme is Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe.
In Chemnitz, the programme is coordinated by the Chemnitz City Health Department.
Anke Protze, deputy head of the health department: "We want to make a contribution to the prevention of mental health in children and young people because we know that mental crises and illnesses are common and predominantly begin in adolescence, they are still taboo and those affected often find help too late."
Mental illnesses often begin in adolescence. Puberty presents children and adolescents with a huge challenge. The body is changing, hormones are overflowing and you never really feel the way you are.
Bullying, eating disorders and, in the worst case, suicidal thoughts are just some of the possible consequences. This makes effective prevention and health promotion projects all the more important. Schools are an ideal place for this. The "Crazy? So what!" school day brings the topic of mental health to children and young people. It shows simple and effective ways in which pupils and teachers can overcome crises together and strengthen mental health so that everyone can successfully complete their schooling and training.
"Crazy? So what! - Mentally fit at school" is a prevention programme by Irrsinnig Menschlich e.V. from Leipzig in cooperation with BARMER and gesundheitsziele.de as well as a model project for the implementation of the national health goals "Growing up healthy" and "Preventing depression".