Mental Health: Breaking the Silence
Join us for the Live Webcast: Friday 15th October 2021, 10:00 – 11:00 CET
FOLLOW THE LIVE WEBCAST Friday, 15th October 2021 | 10:00 – 11:00 CET by clicking this link
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on mental health and well-being. Physical distancing measures, restrictions on movement, school closures and confinement have adversely affected essential education and training, disrupted child protection and family support systems, exacerbated youth unemployment rates and negatively impacted children’s and adolescents’ mental health, including that of their caregivers.
In a recent survey with young people across the EU, almost 1 in 5 responded that they identified as suffering from mental health problems or symptoms such as depression or anxiety.
While the European Union and the EU Member States, as global forces of positive change and children’s rights champions, are called to reimagine a pandemic-free world and invest in recovery, they must lay the foundations for more resilient national social and health systems centring the recovery on people’s, children, young people, families and communities’ well-being.
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, poor mental health cost the EU 4% of GDP in lost productivity and social expenses (OECD). While exacerbating negative consequences for mental health, the pandemic also offers us an opportunity to rethink our approach and to build back better by investing in a comprehensive approach to mental health that is fit for the future. In this context, UNICEF has launched the World’s Children Report 2021 - the most comprehensive analysis of global trends affecting children- that examines children and young people’s mental health and well-being worldwide. Focusing on Europe, a regional brief will be launched in Brussels on the 15th October 2021.
What
The event aims at listening to children and young people´s views, their concerns and solutions on their wellbeing and mental health while engaging live with high level personalities and policymakers. This exchange will launch the UNICEF European regional Brief that showcases promising approaches to address mental health challenges that children and young people face and presents an agenda for action for the EU institutions and European Governments considering their key role in and outside the European Union’s borders and in the world.
Objectives
- Present new data, evidence, and good practices as part of the newly released European regional brief on the State of the World’s Children Report 2021, Mental health: breaking the silence.
- Share the concerns and priorities of children on their mental wellbeing and listen to children's opinions on what decision makers should do.
- Convene policymakers and experts to share solutions and initiatives that address the mental health crisis.
