School Health begins to be implemented at Youth Development and Inclusion Centres, announces Rui Luís
The Regional Secretary for Health announced in Angra do Heroísmo the implementation of School Health in regional Youth Development and Inclusion Centres, thus putting into practice one of the actions provided for in the Regional Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion.
"Fulfilling our commitment made in October, and following the success of school health in regular education and its extension to vocational education, we also intend to reach all Youth Development and Inclusion Centres in the 2019/2020 school year. In this regard, we take the first step by signing an agreement with Cáritas - Terceira for the implementation of this measure," said Rui Luís. The government official spoke during a visit to the Youth Centre of Cáritas - Terceira, during which the Regional Secretariat for Health signed a cooperation protocol with that institution.
Rui Luís emphasised that the School Health is a relevant initiative that already covers 175 regular schools and 18 vocational training schools, representing a universe of 40 thousand students.
"This crucial tool has the mission to promote better health among younger generations, namely minors living in vulnerable conditions, as well as the acquisition of skills in areas such as healthy eating, prevention of alcohol, tobacco and drug consumption, sex education and even mental health," sad the government official.
The School Health programme is expected to reach 10 Youth Development and Inclusion Centres, covering about 500 young people.
"The agreement signed today ensures the sharing of practices and knowledge among technical intervention teams working with young people at risk. It also provides for the training of technicians working at the Youth Development and Youth Centre of Cáritas-Terceira in the area of social intervention and health promotion," said the Regional Secretary.
Moreover, the cooperation agreement also stipulates the collaboration of the Regional Directorate for Prevention and Control of Dependencies to provide training for the development of personal and social skills of the technicians working directly with young people in situations of social vulnerability.
According to the Secretary for Health, Cáritas - Terceira will also be a partner of the Regional Government in the implementation of the "Preventing in Family and Community" programme.
The parental skills programme, which covers children aged between 7 and 11 in the first module, is a pioneering initiative in the country. It has already been considered an effective strategy for the prevention of drug use and abuse by the European Union.
In this context, the Regional Secretary stated that the novelty of this initiative lies in the existence of group sessions, where all skills and contents are used to strengthen ties in the relationships between family members.
"After being implemented as a pilot project at Rabo de Peixe Basic Education School, covering 20 families, we have all the conditions to implement this same model on the island of Terceira," said Rui Luís.
This measure aimed at reinforcing the protective factors a family context and reducing risk factors represents the adaptation of the Family Skills programme to the reality of our Region. It had already been adapted to the Spanish reality by the University of Balearic Islands and to the Portuguese reality by CEIFAC - Integrated Family Support Centre of Coimbra and the University of Coimbra.