Mind - Net

The issue of children's and adolescents' mental health is increasingly in the spotlight due to the pandemic: according to a study by the Italian Society of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry (the Italian SINPIA), there are about 2 million young Italians affected by neuropsychological disorders, of which only 1 in 4 manage to embark on a therapeutic path. And when a disorder goes unrecognized in its early stages, it often turns into a much more complex pathology in adulthood.

In order to intervene promptly on these cases, the association Fraternità Giovani Cooperativa Sociale ONLUS operates in the province of Brescia in Therapeutic Rehabilitation Centers to help children and young people with behavioral disorders, following a very precise mission: "Beside people, especially minors and families in situations of serious psycho-emotional fragility."

From this desire, the project we support was born: Mind - Net, the network of health services in the Brescia area that aims to safeguard the mental health of children from 11 to 18 years old, with particular attention to those who are most at risk, such as minors involved in conflictual separations, who attend school discontinuously or leave it prematurely, with disabilities or psycho-emotional fragility, coming from socially and economically disadvantaged situations or from migratory paths.

For them, Mind - Net has a multi-layered plan that is based on the "Family connection" methodology: the close collaboration between parents and children, guided by educators specialized in training families on these issues, so as to provide them with the knowledge necessary to make homes the first places for their children to begin change and growth.

With our support, Fraternity Youth will open a space with listening desks and clinics that are always open and aim to expand access to a local treatment system. Here young people will be able to meet with psychologists, neuropsychiatrists, carry out educational and cognitive exercises to prevent the onset of pathologies through the identification of the necessary therapeutic tools and the path to take. Experiential workshops in art therapy and music therapy, shared activities between parent and child, therapeutic interventions also remotely (telemedicine) or at home for particularly serious situations will also be organized.

The project also includes information and awareness-raising activities within first- and second-grade schools for both students and teachers, with a view to making them increasingly ready to recognize situations of fragility or distress in their pupils in order to be able to support them abruptly. A well-rounded commitment that makes Mind - Net a project where the synergy between associations, health services, territorial public agencies and families is the key to giving young people in difficulty guidance through professional and personalized therapeutic paths that allow everyone to regain their serenity.

Details

City: Brescia

Association: Fraternità Giovani Cooperativa Sociale ONLUS

Intended beneficiaries: children, adolescents and their families

Contribution: up to €130.000

Period: September 2022 - October 2023