Working Things Out Through SPHE? A Journey from Community to Clinic and Back

Abstract

Working Things Out is a DVD resource developed by young people who had experienced a mental health difficulty in which they tell their stories of how they successfully got through their own ‘tough times’. Participants in an Irish community-based epidemiological study, who had recovered from a mental health difficulty, joined young people attending a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service to develop the resource to assist other young people in coping with their own mental health difficulties. While originally developed for use with clinical populations, the resource has been developed to enhance the Mental Health promotion component of the Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) Programme, which supports the personal development, health and well-being of Irish young people, and forms part of the school curriculum at both primary and secondary school levels. A preliminary pilot study evaluating its use in enhancing the effectiveness of mental health promotion in the SPHE programme has shown promising results, and the empirical effectiveness of the programme is currently being evaluated in a much larger and randomised controlled trial in some 18 Irish Secondary schools.

Keywords:

• SCHOOLS MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION
• CLINIC/COMMUNITY LINKS
• PEER MODELLING