Empowerment and inclusion of young people and their families in situations of psychological distress.
Empowerment and inclusion of young people and their families in situations of psychological distress.
Veneto Region, “Teenage District Functional Unit - UFDA".
Pasquale Borsellino Veneto Region, social services
Recently, the Veneto Region launched a new service to be implemented locally in cooperation with the Local Social Health Units, called “Teenage District Functional Unit - UFDA" UDFA is made by a territorial team of experts for the multidisciplinary care of young people and families suffering depression due to the effects of the containment measures of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the spread of the infection and the introduction of measures to prevent it, young people were the first to experience the consequences of social distancing and other measures in the school context.
The pandemic had a heavy psychological impact on children, adolescents and families in terms of restrictions and radical changes in habits. In particular, according to a recent study by the Giannina Gaslini Institute in Genoa, in children and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 18. The most frequent symptoms included increased emotional instability with irritability and changes in mood, sleep and anxiety disorders. As stress symptoms caused by Covid-19 in parents increase, behavioural disorders in children and teenagers raise up as well.
To cope with this difficult situation and provide support to children and their families, the Veneto Region in collaboration with the Social Services Unit of Family, Minors, Young People and Civil Service approved Resolution no. 1215/2001 of 07/09/2021, which establishes the guidelines for the nine Local Social Health Units of the Region in order to implement UFDA experts’ groups, including psychologists, social workers and professional educators.
These multi-disciplinary working groups are open and available to offer counselling and takeover to adolescents and their families on the various possible mental disorders and/or disturbances related to the pandemic. The proposal, which pursues an approach to the person and not to her/his symptoms or state of need, and which favours an early interception of distress and the taking into account of different levels of intensity, is part of a broader context linked to regional programming on the subject. UFDA will allow adequate responses and will lead, in the three-year period 2021-2023, to the achievement of an ad hoc service.
The UFDA experience has been selected as an example of good practice for the project “The living art-The art of living” since it develops a process of multidisciplinary care of young people and their families in a situation of psychological distress enabling the promotion of individual and collective psychological well-being. The concept of the “art of living” is enhanced by managing a situation of psychological distress through rediscovering the value, beauty and purpose of life.
