Emotional problems, such as depression and anxiety, are the most common mental health disorders among young people and are a concern and challenge for families, end users, educators, health professionals and young people themselves. In this context and in light of this reality, the PROMOBIENESTAR University Chair for the Promotion of Health and Emotional Well-being in Adolescents and Young People was created thanks to the collaboration between the University of Jaén and the Provincial Council of Jaén. The PROMOBIENESTAR Chair includes training for these professionals and interest groups. To this end, the following training workshops have been held to enable youth, education, health and social services personnel and end users to acquire or improve their skills in the health and emotional well-being of young people in their respective fields of action, as well as to carry out training activities to reduce the stigma of emotional difficulties and suicide.
The workshops addressed topics such as suicidal behaviour and self-harm in adolescents and young people, taught by Dr Victoria Soto (UMH), emotional regulation techniques for young people and adolescents and tools for working on psychological flexibility and emotional skills in parenting by Dr. Inmaculada Gómez (UAL), and triage tools, manuals and practical PROADEMO resources for addressing the emotional difficulties of young people and adolescents by Dr. Luis Joaquín García (UJA).
These workshops have received an excellent response, with more than 90 people registered, with an interdisciplinary profile covering more than 6 degrees and an international profile, as it has foreign and cross-sector participants, with profiles such as work in Youth and Education Councils, Referent Nursing in Educational Centres, Secondary and Higher Education Teachers, Youth Technicians and Students, and with geographical representation from Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Seville, Granada, Málaga, Alicante, Badajoz, Barcelona and Madrid.
During this meeting, the programme for the Outreach and Transfer Day and Training Workshops scheduled for 6 October was approved, and additional measures for its dissemination were evaluated.
Within the framework of the collaboration between the Princess of Girona Foundation and the PROEMO network and the PROMOBIENESTAR Chair, Professor Luis Joaquín García attended, by personal and non-transferable invitation, representing the aforementioned Network and Chair, the Princess of Girona 2025 Awards ceremony, presided over by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses the Princess of Asturias and Girona and the Infanta Sofía at the emblematic Liceu Theatre in Barcelona. See the photo gallery.
The ceremony was attended by Salvador Illa, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya; Jordi Hereu, Minister of Industry and Tourism; Carlos Prieto, Government Delegate in Catalonia; Jaume Collboni Cuadrado, Mayor of Barcelona; Francisco Belil, President of the Princess of Girona Foundation; The event was attended by the following members of the Government of Catalonia: Mónica Martínez, Catalan Minister for Social Rights and Inclusion; Nuria Montserrat, Catalan Minister for Research and Universities; Berni Álvarez, Catalan Minister for Sport; Sonia Hernández, Catalan Minister for Culture; Javier Villamayor, Secretary of the Government; Lluïsa Moret, President of Barcelona Provincial Council; and Salvador Alemany, President of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation. Also in attendance were the mayors of Catalonia, David Quirós, Mayor of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, and Xavier Garcia Albiol, Mayor of Badalona; several mayors from the province of Girona; the mayors of Catarroja and Aldaia, from Valencia, and the Mayor of Badajoz, among other authorities and trustees of the Princess of Girona Foundation.
Last January, the Princess of Girona Foundation launched a Special Intervention Plan for young people in Valencia in response to the consequences of the effects of the ARAD to provide support to young people affected, including a health and wellbeing strand. The Princess of Girona Foundation promoted this intervention plan in Valencia with the aim of supporting educational centres, promoting the recovery of purposeful youth entrepreneurship, fostering and protecting emotional well-being and giving a voice to cultural events and projects that contribute to improving the collective state of mind. Along these lines, and together with other collaborators of the Foundation and with Aula Planeta, a Cuaderno de Bienestar was created with the participation of Prf. Luis Joaquín García and Prfa. Lourdes Espinosa for the direction of the PROMOBIENESTAR University Chair. The aim of the invitation of the Foundation was to advise on the creation of a personal workbook and emotional support in the context of support for adolescents and young people who had suffered from DANA. At the Princess of Girona Awards ceremony, a video was shared in which the materials of the Emotional Well-being Workbook, in which the Chair participated in its creation, could be seen. In the voting gallery you can find some clips of its presentation at the awards ceremony.
The University Chair for the Promotion of Health and Emotional Wellbeing of Adolescents and Young People (PROMOBIENESTAR) was born as a result of the collaboration between the University of Jaén and the Provincial Council of Jaén, with the aim of creating a common space for the generation of knowledge, training and innovation aimed at promoting the health and mental wellbeing of adolescents and young people. This initiative responds to an urgent need: to prevent emotional problems in the young population, to promote resilience in the face of adversity, and to reduce the stigma that still persists around mental health: catedrapromobienestar.es
The Princess of Girona Foundation is a private, non-profit foundation aimed at accompanying and training young people in order to improve and promote their professional development, their personal growth and their incorporation into the labour market, so that they can contribute to building a better future for all. HRH The Princess of Asturias and Girona has been the Honorary President of the Princess of Girona Foundation since her father’s proclamation as King on 19 June 2014.
Luis Joaquin Garcia Lopez, director de la Cátedra Universitaria PROMOBIENESTAR, y Sandra Camós, directora de programas educativos de la Fundación Princesa de Girona.
Images of the implementation of the Welfare Notebook with the participation of the PROMOBIENESTAR Chair in the Special Intervention Plan for young people in Valencia.
The song was presented for the first time at the Princess of Girona 2025 Awards Ceremony. It is available on all platforms. By listening to it and sharing it, in addition, the profits generated by the royalties will go to the Valencia plan, with more educational concerts in the schools of Valencia through AmplificARTE, a project of the Foundation that works for education in values and the improvement of emotional wellbeing in the classroom.
On 8 July, the Monitoring Committee met telematically to discuss issues such as the proposal for the organisation of a training and transfer day on 8 October this year in the framework of World Mental Health Day, as well as the inclusion of a chatbox with AI on the Chair’s website, and the attendance of the Chair’s management to the invitation to attend the Princess of Girona 2025 Awards Ceremony.
At a future meeting, it is agreed to include as an agenda item the definition of the tasks of the persons who hold the membership with voice but without vote in the Chair.
On 16 June, the Monitoring Committee met at the Chair’s premises to report on the progress of the Chair’s rol-up design and printing, to highlight the high number of reproductions and the scope of the interview conducted by Uniradio staff with the Chair’s management, the positive repercussion of the event of transfer of the Chair jointly with the team of Diputación de Jaén in the framework of the International Women’s Day and the approval of the support of the Chair to an event on mental health to be organised by the co-director in the framework of the European Researchers’ Night.
Likewise, the Chair’s signage on the door of the Chair’s office located in Lab 1-5 of the D4 building of the University of Jaén is presented. Subsequently, the proposals of members to the Chair are approved regarding the inclusion of Francisca Medina Teva, first vice-president and provincial deputy for Equality, Social Policies and Youth of the Provincial Council of Jaén and Maria Luisa Gonzalez De La Torre within the area of Equality and Social Welfare – Community Social Services of the Provincial Council of Jaén, as well as María de la Villa Carpio Fernández, Professor of the Psychology Department of the University of Jaén, María del Mar Díaz Castela, Assistant Professor of the Psychology Department of the University of Jaén and David Jiménez Vázquez, research staff of the Psychology Department of the University of Jaén.
After the summer, some pending cases will be evaluated for their possible incorporation. Likewise, the priority lines for the transfer day and training workshops to be held by the Chair on 8 October are debated and decided on the basis of the contributions made by those attending the event held on 16 May.
Within the space ‘Cuidamos Nuestro Bienestar con MJ’, last May 3rd within season 2 of ‘Bienestar en la Universidad’ of UniRadio, the signing between the president of the Provincial Council and the rector of the university to create the PromoBienestar University Chair was discussed.
In the framework of the transfer of present and future actions of the PROMOBIENESTAR Chair, the interview was given by the First Vice-President of the Provincial Council of Jaén and Deputy for Equality, Social Policies and Youth, Francisca Medina, as well as the Director of the PROMOBIENESTAR Chair, Luis Joaquín García and the co-director of the Chair, Lourdes Espinosa, both professors of the Department of Psychology of the University of Jaén.
In the Salón de Grados of the A3 building in Campus Las Lagunillas, University of Jaén, from 10:00 to 13:30, the training and transfer day was held for professionals of the PIF, ETG and ERACIS programme teams. The event was chaired by the first vice-president of the Diputación de Jaén, Francisca Medina, the director of the PROMOBIENESTAR Chair and head of the PROEMO network, Luis Joaquín García, the co-director of the Chair, Lourdes Espinosa, the deputy for Equality and Youth, María Dolores Ruiz (Diputación Provincial de Jaén) and the deputy director for Equality and Social Welfare in Diputación de Jaén, Celestina Martínez.
The objectives of this conference were to transfer knowledge about the report and roadmap 2025 and the resources of the PROEMO Network based on research and scientific evidence as well as to offer training in evidence-based practical strategies for social services professionals in emotional literacy and in their care for adolescents and young people with (or at risk of) emotional problems. Likewise, the objective was to establish synergies between the Chair and the network of professionals ETF; PIF and ERACIS, and in particular to listen to their training demands on aspects of their interest for the delivery of workshops after the summer.
On 16 May, the Monitoring Committee met to discuss issues such as the results of the transfer act carried out by the co-director in the library of the Diputación de Jaén and the awareness-raising act carried out in high schools in Jaén and on the campus, as well as the results of the meeting held on 16 May aimed at listening to the voices and analysing the demands of the social services professionals in attendance, with a high number and involvement of attendees. Likewise, progress continued to be made in the preparation of the event for the week of 6-10 October.
Within the framework of the activities of the Provincial Council of Jaén, the PROEMO Network and the Promobienestar Chair, the Doctor in Psychology and co-director of this Chair, gave a talk entitled ‘Mental health in adolescents: Where are we and where are we going?’, in the facilities of the Giennense Literary Library of the Provincial Council of Jaén.
In addition to reflecting on mental health in the adolescent population, he presented the Report and Roadmap 2025 to the audience, as well as the PROCARE Programme (Selective Prevention through a transdiagnostic intervention for adolescents at risk of emotional problems) which is currently being carried out for the second consecutive year in the province of Jaén thanks to the support of the Provincial Council of Jaén.
Another of the resources presented was DIGITIASweb, a digital platform aimed at adolescent mental health literacy. In this case, three students from the Degree in Psychology, Nuria Fernández, Laura Bautista and Nerea Luna, presented some of the resources available on the platform along with their assessment as young people. The event ended with the inauguration of the exhibition, in the same facilities of the Library, of Illustrations on Mental Health made by students of the José Nogué School of Art in collaboration with the DIGITAS project. The exhibition can be visited until 19 May.
The event was presided over by Francisca Medina Teva, Deputy Delegate of the Instituto de Estudios Giennenses and Encarnación Medina Arjona, Councillor of the Instituto de Estudios Giennenses.
The Promobienestar Chair, as part of its objectives of dissemination and knowledge transfer, together with the DIGITASweb project, and after approval by the monitoring committee, has developed a campaign on mental health, with a special focus on body image in young people and adolescents and its emotional impact.
The initiative was carried out in two different locations: at the Las Lagunillas Campus of the University of Jaén, during the morning and afternoon of 22 April, and at the Jabalcuz Secondary School in Jaén, on 30 April in the morning.
In both cases, the turnout and participation of both university students, on the one hand, and secondary and high school students, on the other, has been numerous and very satisfactory, as can be seen in the accompanying graphic material.
The aim of the campaign has focused on raising awareness about the importance of mental health care in young people, inviting them to reflect on the role of the perception and assessment of their own body image in emotional well-being and how this is greatly influenced by social networks and the opinion of others. In short, to make students aware of the importance of a healthy relationship with their own bodies, promoting acceptance, self-esteem and critical thinking in the face of the aesthetic canons imposed by society and social networks.
In addition, it has been used to publicise the DIGITAS digital platform led by the University of Jaén and aimed at increasing mental health literacy among adolescents and young people, through the number and variety of resources offered on its website.
This campaign has been carried out under the direction of Lourdes Espinosa, co-director of the Chair, and the involvement of the students of the Psychology Degree of the University of Jaén, Nuria Fernández, Nerea Luna and Laura Ballester, in the activities and in direct contact with the participating young people and adolescents, so that the message transmitted has been ‘one equal or another equal’.
Paco Reyes and Nicolás Ruiz signed an agreement on 21 April for the creation of this new chair, which is the first on this subject to be set up in Spain.
The Provincial Council of Jaén and the University of Jaén (UJA) promote the creation of the PromoBienestar University Chair, aimed at promoting the health and mental wellbeing of young people. The president of the Provincial Administration, Paco Reyes, has signed today an agreement with the rector of the UJA, Nicolás Ruiz, for the implementation of this chair that ‘is born from the joint commitment of these two entities to continue developing innovative strategies in the field of mental health and youth welfare as both entities are concerned and concerned about the youth of our province’, has remarked Reyes.
Specifically, this chair is aimed at ‘preventing the emotional problems of this group through actions that promote emotional strength in the face of adversity, as well as developing strategies to address suicidal behaviour and self-harm and end the stigmatisation of the difficulties of health and emotional well-being that young people may experience’, explained the president of the provincial administration, who recalled the importance of youth policies in the line of action of the Provincial Council as evidenced by the III Youth Plan, currently in force.
Through the signing of this agreement – a ceremony which was also attended by the Deputy for Equality and Youth, María Dolores Ruiz, and the Professor of Psychology at the UJA, Luis Joaquín García López – the provincial administration will provide 10,000 euros this year to promote this chair, which is the first of its kind to be created in Spain and which will pay special attention to the vulnerable young population and to the groups most likely to be at risk of developing emotional difficulties.
The PromoBienestar University Chair -whose information is already available on the website https://catedrapromobienestar.es/-se – will develop training activities both for young people and for staff working with young people, such as professionals in education, health and social services. In addition, dissemination and knowledge transfer actions will be carried out, through conferences and events, as well as initiatives to promote research, development and innovation, with the promotion of lines of research, protocols for early detection and intervention, or volunteering programmes or internships to highlight the promotion of health and emotional wellbeing of young people.
Both the President of the Provincial Council of Jaén and the Rector of the University of Jaén have highlighted the cooperation of these two entities in projects of interest and strategic for the province of Jaén, such as CETEDEX, a line of collaboration in which the creation of this new Chair is framed. With the PromoBienestar Chair ‘the University of Jaén positions itself at the forefront in the field of health prevention policies and the emotional wellbeing of people, mainly adolescents and young people’, emphasised the Rector of the UJA.
Through this chair, ‘we are opening up a new space for training, research, knowledge transfer and social innovation in an area which is absolutely fundamental and which, moreover, permeates almost everything, such as mental health’, said Ruiz. In this sense, Nicolás Ruiz emphasised the importance of this chair in contributing to improving the mental health of adolescents and young people as ‘these stages are particularly critical, given that according to the data available to us, almost 50% of mental problems appear before the age of 14’, he pointed out. ‘A society like ours has no future without emotionally healthy people and emotionally healthy adolescents and young people, so the importance of this chair is no less important,’ he remarked.
Rector of the University of Jaén, Nicolás Ruiz, the president of the Provincial Council of Jaén, Francisco Reyes, and the members of the monitoring committee: the director of the Chair, Professor of Psychology at the UJA Luis Joaquín García, the deputy for Equality and Youth, María Dolores Ruiz, the Deputy Director of Equality and Youth, Celestina Martínez and the co-director, Lourdes Espinosa, Professor at the University of Jaén.
Audio: The President of the Provincial Council highlighted the objectives of this university chair.
Audio: Paco Reyes outlined the actions to be carried out within the framework of this chair.
Audio: The rector of the University of Jaén has pointed out that this chair opens a new space for training and social innovation in mental health.
Audio: Nicolás Ruiz explains how this chair came about and its importance.
On 25 March, the Monitoring Committee met to discuss issues such as the creation of an institutional video and the design of its own website.
Likewise, the involvement of the Chair in the State Meeting of Youth Professionals and the establishment of criteria for the inclusion of members in the Chair were approved.
Next, it was approved that the Chair will support a mental health campaign on 22 April at the UJA Campus, and an event on 5 May as part of the exhibition of illustrations in the Library of the Provincial Council of Jaén.
Finally, it approves that the Chair can consider international synergies with the international network Climent COST Action funded by the European Commission on the theme of climate change and mental health.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
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