In the last decade, there was a significant increase in suicide rates and mental disorders among Brazilian youth. The pandemic context affected youth's physical and emotional health, financial resources, family relationships, and their ability to manage their studies. The trails were designed to give youth broad access to mental health content and to expand their coping skills, nationwide.
There are 4 axes of action:
1) Free online trails, created by youth mentored by ASEC professionals, in the format of 21-day challenges for teenagers and young adults;
2) Synchronous conversation circles based on the awarded Y2Y Mental Health Toolbox (https://bit.ly/3lPfqro), which allow for peer-to-peer exchange and the expansion of participants' repertoire of coping strategies;
3) Webinars with reliable information in the field of mental health;
4) Printed materials and facilitation guide (under development) to expand access to communities without internet connection.
In practice, the resources are created by ASEC’s youth team, mentored by experts, and offered online, free of charge, to anyone with internet access (https://bit.ly/3vAEJD7). The conversation circles and webinars are organized and facilitated by the youth team with groups of youth pre-registered for each activity. Printed materials are distributed to municipalities and communities without internet access.
In 8 months, there have been more than 3560 participants. Of these, 31% are youth and the rest are over 24 years old. The initial outreach happened mainly among participants of a previous project focused on youth and professionals – that's why a large portion of participants so far are adults. But we have a good perspective of impact in view of the articulation of the project with other UNICEF initiatives, such as the UNICEF Seal and the U-Report.
Register for the trails (in Portuguese, https://bit.ly/3vAEJD7). Access the content and the discussion forum. Find out about synchronous events on the online platform and participate in webinars (open to all) and conversation circles (based on prior registration). Join our Telegram group, where news and ASEC’s content are shared. The distribution of printed materials follows UNICEF guidelines.
