Relax yourself project was completed on 31. 12. 2023. It was set up in May 2021 because it was becoming apparent that children and adolescents' mental health was not in good shape due to covid isolation. The Turnov Education Centre targeted children and adolescents aged 11-16, educational staff, parents of children and the community in general. The aim was to promote mental health, education and prevention.

The main activities were the development of an educational programme, podcasts, the organisation of two seminars and a final online conference.

Educational programme Relax Yourself – the basis for teaching at lower-secondary school was created. The educational programme includes 8 thematically focused modules, which can be implemented as a whole or separately. Each module is a complete guide for conducting a two-hour lesson on a given topic (including games, audio aids, worksheets, etc.). The modules can be used by all educators interested in mental health. All materials are available for free download at www.hlava-v-pohode.cz/vzdelavaci-program/    

The training programme includes the following modules:

• Mental Health and Psychohygiene
• Meditation and Exercises for Health
• Mindfulness - How to Be Consciously Here and Now
• Healthy Lifestyle
• Relationship with Self
• Coexistence with the Environment
• Emotions and How to Handle Them
• Stress and How to Handle It

 

Relax Yourself (The Head is Fine) Podcasts - In the podcasts, young hosts talk about the difficulties and issues facing today's teens. The aim was to offer solutions, to tell them that they are not alone. To advise them where they can go for help and that they shouldn't be afraid to ask for it. The podcasts provided information on how to take care of mental health and how to manage the challenges they may encounter. The target audience is teens aged 11-16, but parents and other ages can listen too. The podcasts were produced in collaboration with subject matter experts and child psychologists, and many interesting guests took part in the recording.

A total of 20 podcasts were published: About Cyberbullying; Why Not to Fear a Psychologist; Self-Acceptance; Divorce 1/2; Divorce 2/2; Me and Others; Meditation and Relaxation; Digital Addiction; How Not to Get Stuck Online; How to Talk About Addictions; Who I Am, Who I Like, and Who can Make Sense of it ?!; On self-harm and prevention; Domestic violence aka When it's not OK at home; Bullying and its witnesses; Stress; Anxiety and depression; Time to sleep; Mental resilience; How to have healthy relationships and A final look back.

The podcasts can be listened to at Spotify.

Relax Yourself (The Head is Fine) Seminars – two seminars on children's mental health were organised.

The first seminar was held on 12 October 2022 and was entitled Mental Difficulties and Mental Illness in Adolescents. The second seminar Head is Fine in Turnov was held on 19 May 2023 in cooperation with Fokus Turnov, z. s. Mgr. Lenka Meixnerová talked about how to maintain mental health and how to take care of it, as well as where to turn for help in case of mental health problems in Turnov and its surroundings. The seminar was held as part of the Turnov Playful ways to live healthy and the A DOST... (THAT´S ENOUGH) campaign.

Study materials from both seminars (in Czech language) can be found at www.hlava-v-pohode.cz/seminare/.

The closing online conference, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, was held on 15 November 2023 and was intended for both professionals and the general public. The conference included presentations by representatives of the Technical University of Liberec, University of Stavanger. The project, its outputs and possible applications were presented. Presentations from the conference (in Czech language): www.hlava-v-pohode.cz/konference/.  

The project Relax Yourself (ZD-MGS1-014) was implemented by the Turnov Educational Centre, o.p.s. and was financed by the EEA Grants 2014-2021 from the Health Programme. The project partners were the Technical University of Liberec and the University of Stavanger.

More info (in Czech language): www.hlava-v-pohode.cz and www.vctu.cz.