SEROTONIN

Name of the activity: SEROTONIN

Country/NMO: Slovenia (SloMSIC)

Program: Mental Health

Type of the activity: Education. Education on health issues for specific societal groups, either in the form of projects (set of tasks for a certain group over a fixed period of time), events (something notable that happens) or conferences (form meeting about ideas related to a particular topic, usually over several days).

General description:

Serotonin is an activity implemented on a local level. an expected date of it’s start is 26. 2. 2018 and en expected date of it’s end 20. 12. 2018. Serotonin provides education on mental health issues and drug abuse. It is a continuous activity that has already existed before. The activity is primarily focused on the destigmatization of mental illnesses and greater understanding towards the mentally ill. One of the main goals of the project are raising the awareness of medical students regarding patients with mental health issues, increasing student’s empathy and understanding of mental diseases and disorders and of course helping students to cope with stress, anxiety and other mental distresses. The project will educate students by organizing educational lectures and different booth stands to promote self-care and reduce stigmas.

Focus area:

Mental Health promotion

Problem statement:

The main purpose of the Serotonin project is encouraging individuals to maintain good mental health since an individual can only act as an active member of society in a good psycho-physical condition. Our other intentions are destigmatization of mental illnesses and raising awareness about drug addiction. Stigmatization of mental illness and substance abuse can have a negative effect on a patients by discouraging them to seek professional help and needed treatment.

Target groups:

General population, Medical students, Other Students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students, Other Students

Objectives and indicators of success:

-Assisting the students coping with stress, anxiety and other distress by promoting mental health enhancement with the help of social media and at least 3 relaxation yoga and/or meditation workshops throughout the year. Our success and impact will be measured through attendance at our events.

-Raising the public awareness of the importance of mental health and the preservation of it and awareness on drug abuse, its impact on the human body and the damage it causes to society among students of medicine and psychology and general public during the duration of the project. This will be achieved through relaxation workshops, interesting lectures and the anti-stress stand. We would measure our progress using questionnaires after our first and our last event organized this year.

-Organizing at least four lectures on the topic of mental health, mental disorders and addictions by the end of 2019. This will contribute to a better understanding and destigmatization of mental disorders and addictions among medical and psychology students by the end of 2019. The success criterion will be the attendance of said events.

Methodology:

The project will strive to promote the importance of mental health, finding help and self-care, talk openly about the issue and educate medical students on the matter of the topic by organizing a variety of educational lectures, lead by experts and by organizing different kinds of booth stands at the Faculty of Medicine in Maribor with intention of promoting self-care as well as reducing stigmas. By actively promoting mental health on social media, we will be able to reach students all over the country and other interested people. Finally, yet importantly, part of the project will be dedicated to promoting safety and consequences of drug use and other addictions by organizing educational lectures for students.

Plans for evaluation:

Our success and impact will be measured through attendance at our events and by the reach of our posts on Facebook and Instagram page. We would measure our progress using questionnaires after our first and our last event organized this year. Furthermore, we will include an extra survey for quality improvement, which will also involve suggestions for future lecture topics. At the end of the year, members of the project will discuss and analyze the project’s accomplishments, its critical points and suggestions for improvement as well as further development including dissemination.