BuildingResilienceproject

"Building resilience, one step at a time."

About us

Building resilience is a project of the association of the John Paul II. Universal Sports School. to encourage the mental health of young people through sports activities. The project is supported and financed by the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes and Erasmus+.

Mental health refers to emotional and psychological well-being. Having good mental health helps lead a relatively happy and healthy life. It helps demonstrate resilience and the ability to cope in the face of life's adversities. Twenty percent of teenagers between 13 and 18 experience some form of mental health disorder. The situation is even dramatic in the most vulnerable groups of youth, such as: Migrants, Refugees, IDPs, NEETs and minorities.

According to WHO, alarmingly, 70% of young people who experience a mental health problem have not had appropriate interventions at a sufficiently early age even within Europe. The emotional wellbeing of youth is just as important as their physical health. Good mental health allows youth to develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults.

In addition to Croatia, representatives of Spain, Poland, Turkey and Malta are participating in the project.

The specific objectives of the project are:

To equip 24 youth workers and with competences, tools and methods to use sports as a non-formal learning (NFL) method for improving youth mental health
To increase youth worker's understanding of mental health challenges that youth are facing and ways to address those challenges
To develop innovative tools and methods for improving youth work in the field of mental health through sports activities
To develop innovative online platform in which youth workers across Europe and beyond can share challenges, best practices, knowledge, tools and methods
To promote the use of sports as NFL method for improving youth mental health

Organisation/Team

Croatia

John Paul II Universal Sports School is an association that operates in Croatia with the aim of promoting sports and physical exercise among children and young people. Namely, the idea of the association is to encourage the development of basic motor, functional and cognitive abilities in younger children and young people. At the same time, influence a positive attitude towards sports so that young people stay in sports activities as long as possible.

Spain

Neotalentway is a training and educational centre from Granada (south of Spain) focusing in the training for employment and insertion of employed and unemployed people, because nowadays there is more competitiveness in the world of work, thus, we want to give a new opportunity and to help people in their self-knowledge and grown-up.

Turkey

Söke Yavuz Selim Anatolian High School school started education in 2005.It's the only project school in Söke.This school is situated in Söke which is near a lot of touristic attractions. For example, Kuşadası, which is worldwide known, is ten kilometres away from Söke. There are 38 staff and 487 students. The students are aged 14- 18.Most of the teachers in this school have been teaching for about 15 years, so they are experienced. This school has got interactive flanneL board in each class. The school has been dealing with etwinning projects for three years.

Poland

The Private Primary School ICO makes an educational complex together with the kindergarten "Baśniowa Kraina". The school is located in the south-eastern part of Poland in Tomaszów Lubelski. It is in the "Roztocze" Region, called "the green lungs" of Poland. Thanks to the climate and geographical location, it is possible to organise various activities depending on the season of the year (canoeing, horse riding, Nordic Walking, skiing, sleigh rides, bike trips). The institution welcomes students from 7 to 18 years. Recently, the the number of new rooms has increased: the library, the gym and the canteen with our own cuisine.

Malta

The Malta Exercise Health and Fitness Association (MEHFA) was set up by a group of trainers involved in the field of personal training.

Mental Health

Based on research conducted in Croatia, Spain, Poland, Turkey and Malta, we learned about the high rate of mental health problems among young people. The research determined the following percentage of depressive symptoms in young people:

20% Croatia
40% Spain
25% Poland
30% Turkey
>80% Malta

Symptoms of depression are more frequent in females than in males.

15 years of age is the age with the highest number of depressive symptoms, followed closely by young people at 12 years of age. The highest percentage of depressive symptoms in males is at the age of 12. The highest percentage of depressive symptoms in females is at age 15.

In general, the main symptoms of depression present in young people are: Felt miserable or unhappy and Felt so tired I sat around doing nothing. On the other hand, the least present symptoms are: Hated myself and Fell lonely.

What are the symptoms that a young person has a mental health problem?

changes in sleep
new onset of guilt
changes in energy level
changes in concentration or task completion
changes in appetite
changes in motivation
thoughts of suicide

How sport can improve the mental health of young people?

Self-respect - doing sports increases self-esteem in young people (Guddal MH et.al. 2019).

Reduction of depressive symptoms - playing sports during adolescence is associated with lower symptoms of depression and less perceived stress (Jewett rt.al., 2014).

Reducing anxiety - physical activity has a beneficial effect on reducing anxiety in young people (Graupensperger, S., Sutcliffe, J. & Vella, SA,2021).

Mental resilience - sport strengthens the resilience of young people through defeats and victories (Noriss, 2021).

Sport affects the production of happiness hormones - endorphin, serotonin i dopamine.

Instructions for coaches on how to improve the mental health of young people

Be familiar with youth mental health issues and signs and symptoms.
Take time to focus on mental benefits during training.
Regularly talk to the athlete about how he is feeling and what he is thinking.
The use of questionnaires that will be used to find out whether depressive symptoms and anxiety exist.
To be familiar with stress tolerance in your athletes and to help them cope with stressful situations in an adequate way.