PROMEHS – Promoting Mental Health at Schools

PROMEHS is the first mental health curriculum developed with researchers, policymakers and scientific associations across Europe. Research shows that around 20 % of school children experience mental health issues, which often begin at an early age. As schools are in a unique position to promote mental health literacy among children and young people, PROMEHS aimed to create a systematic framework for the development and implementation of an evidence-based universal mental health curriculum in schools, as well as high-quality training for educators and school staff.

The project has produced:

• a report evaluating the effectiveness of the PROMEHS curriculum,
• a round-up of educational policies promoting mental health in participating countries,
• several scientific publications and presentations.

The programme had a positive impact on both students’ and teachers’ well-being in the experimental group compared with the control group. According to teacher evaluations, pupils improved in all five categories of social and emotional development. Compared to older children, kindergarteners seemed to be more directly impacted by the programme.