Mental Health
Strengthening of Self-Esteem
The programme was created in 2002 in cooperation with the Health Education Office of Eastern Thessaloniki and has been reformed several times since then.
It can be applied to children aged 6 – 12 years with some adaptations depending on their level and abilities. In addition it can be applied to children attending kindergarten also with some adaptations.
It consists of 13 workshops, which are interconnected, one after the other, so we recommend that the mentioned order be followed during the implementation of the programme.
It aims at the personal development of primary school children focusing on strengthening the child’s self-esteem.
It is a programme that uses the experiential method and techniques of Drama and Play Therapy: voice, self-design, movement, roles, play, painting, clay, sand and requires the active participation of the students.
Children are encouraged to express and develop their creative expression, to exchange thoughts and experiences, to respect the limits and restrictions set by the group, to express their inner desires and problems and difficulties through the roles they play, to channel the inner tension they carry, to deal with their emotions. The development of self-esteem runs through all the workshops and is pursued through the synthesis of these.
Program structure:
- Implementation of an introductory training seminar (2 days, 11 hours) for teachers, aiming at the understanding of basic concepts of the programme on the one hand and familiarisation with experiential learning techniques on the other hand.
- Supervision team for teachers, coordinated by staff of the “ELPIDA” Prevention Centre. The aim of this team will be to support teachers in the implementation of the educational material to students. The duration of each meeting will be 2 hours, depending on the number of participants. The total number of supervisory meetings will be determined with each group.
- Parallel application of the educational material of the project by the teachers to the students (10 two-hour sessions).
Participants will receive a certificate of participation after the end of the seminar and the implementation of the programme to the students.
Experiences from the implementation of the programme
In the first workshops the children, because they didn't know each other, had difficulty working in groups and doing some of the work. However, over time they learned to cooperate, respect each other, talk about themselves and participate more in the discussion. They learned that we are all different, but each of us can contribute and coexist with others. They got to know their feelings and had the opportunity to make new friends.
