Promoting mental health in the classroom: the best strategies for teachers and school staff!

In this current society stress plays a big role in our daily life, especially in students life. Taking care of our mental health is crucial, because it impacts students’ learning abilities, social interactions, academic success and an overall their life quality.
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The new edition of the course “Promoting Students’ Well-Being and Mental Health in school: strategies for teachers and school staff” took place in Palermo from 18/05/2025 to 24/05/2025. The participants came from all across Europe, with Victoria and Anna from Hedda Wisingskolan along with Nina and Karolina from Sofiedalskolan in Sweden, Florbela and Paula from Escola Secundária José Saramago – Mafra and Ana from Agrupamento de Escola São Bruno in Portugal, Anne and Lydia from Collège Aimé Césaire de Basse-Pointe along with Nathalie, Lawrence and Ophélie from Collège Gerard Philipe in France, Martina from Städtisches Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium München in Germany and Lukáš from ZŠ Kubranská 80, 911 01 Trenčín in Slovakia.

We started the course with a brainstorming the concepts of mental health and mental well-being and participants had the chance to exchange and share their favorite practices and situations in their schools.

To continue, we moved to the development stages of Erikson and challenges, along with some protective and risk factors. Through practical activities, participants had the chance to learn about the conflict between conflict between psychological needs and social demands. These stages span from infancy to old age, and successful resolution of each crisis leads to the development of specific psychological strengths. 
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Another important topic was emotions. Indeed, on Wednesday participants learned about emotional intelligence and delved into it with a teacher-student perspective, sharing their main issues at their schools and strategies to promote it. 

Moreover, we talked about smart goals and empathy, followed by a lesson about bullying awareness and prevention, since this is a global issue that directly affects all students’ mental health. To prevent bullying behaviors it is vital to foster a positive classroom environment. All of the activities were carried on with non formal and creative activities.
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Last but not least, we went to Villa Trabia for an outdoor education class were participants practiced mindfulness activities such as the mindful circle, map of sound, sensitivity list and so on. At the end of the week, participants went home with a bag full of best practices and ideas to share in their schools! 

Discover more about this course here