The Emporium Hotel in Bihać was today the gathering place for experts in the fields of education and psychology as part of the “Mind Matters – Strengthening Children’s Health and Resilience” project, implemented by Genesis Project in cooperation with the Ministry of Education of the Una-Sana Canton, the organization Crossing Borders, and UNICEF BiH, with co-financing from the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The project’s goal is to improve the mental health of children aged 9 to 12 through a systemic approach, empowering teaching staff, school pedagogues, and psychologists, as well as actively involving parents in support and prevention processes.
Today’s seminar was dedicated to the training of school pedagogues and psychologists, who play a crucial role in strengthening children’s emotional resilience and creating a safe school environment.
At the very beginning, attendees were addressed by Emir Sulejmanović from UNICEF BiH, who presented the initiative “We Hear You – Testing the UNICARE System in BiH,” an innovative digital tool that provides young people, parents, and teachers with reliable information and resources on mental health and well-being.
During the training, participants had the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of child and youth mental health, methods for early identification of challenges, and didactic-methodological approaches in working with students through interactive workshops and expert lectures.
The training was led by $MSc$ Elma Hadžić and $MSc$ Fuada Poračanin Ćerić, who analyzed and corrected proposals for workshops on protecting children’s mental health with the participants, focusing on practical recommendations and adaptation to the school context.
This seminar represents the first step in a series of activities to be implemented during the “Mind Matters” project, which includes:
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Strengthening the mental health of 2,000 students,
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Empowering 250 teachers and 50 school pedagogues and psychologists,
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Working with 2,000 parents,
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Distributing educational materials and conducting an online campaign.
The training continues tomorrow, when the focus will be on the role of teachers, pedagogical services, and parents in supporting and protecting the mental health of children aged 9 to 12. Through interactive lectures by Prof. $Dr$ Ivana Zečević and Prof. $Dr$ Slavica Tutnjević, participants will explore ways in which the education system and family can jointly contribute to developing emotional resilience in children. The second day of the seminar brings an exchange of experiences, practical recommendations, and tools that will help school professionals strengthen their students’ mental health in the long term.
Through such initiatives, Bihać and the Una-Sana Canton are becoming an example of good practice in the systemic approach to child and youth mental health.