Promoting mental health in school: The PROMEHS project

In the last three decades, there has been a proliferation of school-based programs targeted to promote mental health. Missing, however, is a comprehensive program that is designed for the needs of students of different ages and that is also clearly targeted to the promotion of the mental health both of students and teachers. PROMEHS is a European project aimed at specifically addressing these gaps. This contribution presents the overall goals and methodology of PROMEHS. The program has been implemented in six European Countries involving more than 10000 students and their teachers, using the training study methodology. The research design includes the collection of pre and post-test data of students and their teachers. The implementation of the curriculum included a training course and supervision of teachers, meetings with school teachers and parents, along with providing handbooks with activities to be carried out at school by the teachers and at home by the students with their families. The results showed significant improvements in both students’ (e.g., social-emotional learning) and teachers’ (e.g., resilience) mental health. PROMEHS contributed to the area of innovative educational programs by providing a unique and effective evidence-based program to promote mental health in schools by applying a systemic approach.