NKUA’s dedication to children’s mental health

Translation of original article in Greek by Emeritus Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Kolaitis A. Gerasimos.

An innovative program is set to be introduced in our country’s schools starting next November, with the aim of safeguarding children’s mental health. The Let’s Talk About Children program aims to build bridges between parents and educators to discuss and mutually understand the children’s situation and collaboratively design a framework of action or networks to support them. As explained by Emeritus Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Gerasimos Α. Kolaitis, the objectives of the intervention are defined as follows:

  • Establishment of a framework for mutual understanding and collaboration between educators and parents to better support families.
  • Prevention of children’s psychosocial problems and enhancement of protective factors.
  • Identification of children and families in need of psychosocial support.
  • Awareness and action using structured tools to promote the mental health of children and their families.

A new perspective to prioritise early detection of mental health problems in children

Professor Kolaitis further clarifies that this intervention is aimed at primary education teachers who are sensitive to children’s mental health issues. Through the program, they can adopt a new perspective and acquire skills to promote the mental health of children and their families. Looking back, one realizes that this initiative is the latest link in a significant chain of interventions focused on children’s mental health. NKUA’s participation in the European program Let’s Talk about Children, with the assistant professor of Child Psychiatry G. Giannakopoulos, psychologist and PhD candidate of NKUA’s Medical School F. Zaravinos- Tsakos and Professor of Child Psychiatry, scientific director and coordinator of the program in Greece G. Kolaitis, constitutes a significant development in the critical field of supporting children’s mental health.

As Mr. Kolaitis explains, “The LTC intervention aims to raise awareness and facilitate the early detection of children’s psychosocial problems by educators, and promotes communication and collaboration with parents regarding the successful identification of their children’s reported issues. The ultimate goal of implementing LTC in Greece is to create a national network of trained professionals who will use their newly acquired skills to support children and their families experiencing psychosocial challenges.“

The LTC intervention (along with the corresponding family intervention, Family Talk Intervention – FTI) was created by American Professor of Child Psychiatry W.R. Beardslee and expanded to the Scandinavian countries by Finnish Professor of Child Psychiatry T. Solantaus, where it has been successfully implemented in mental health organizations and schools at a national level over the past 20 years.

In our country, these interventions were introduced and developed by the Child Psychiatry Clinic of NKUA (G. Giannakopoulos and G. Kolaitis) in collaboration with the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) since 2011, prompted by mental health programs funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Read the original article in Greek below:

NKUA Let’s Talk About ChildrenDownload