At school, attention should be paid to the mental health of adolescents, the possibilities of help should be introduced / Article / LSM.lv

Adolescents returning to school can be stressful, adults may not always notice changes in their well-being, so it is important to teach adolescents to understand how their emotional and physical well-being changes, to inform where to seek help, experts explain.

Back to school

The learning process is different in each educational institution. After a long break, teenagers have returned to face-to-face training, there are other rules and settings that are not always favorable for teenagers.

Kristiāns Liepiņš, a 12th grade student at Riga Jānis Poruks Secondary School, is happy to be back at school, emphasizing that distance learning does not control whether a student learns by distance learning. Self-control does not always work well. There was also a problem with access to training resources.

“The feelings were very stressful,” Kristiāns Liepiņš describes the distance learning period. Christian was not bothered by the fact that he could not meet his peers, but for some his peers it was a problem.

Mareks Dambītis, a 7th grade teacher at Priekuļi Secondary School, has noticed that the pupils in his class did not communicate much with each other during distance learning, perhaps they were tired of the big correspondence that they should be active and accessible all the time.

He appreciates that for some, distance learning was a benefit, because they could plan their own time, for others, on the contrary – it was a difficult time to learn to plan their work, communicate with people, find information.

The effect of distance learning on adolescents’ emotional well-being

The Adolescent Psychotherapy Center has conducted a study asking adolescents and young people under the age of 24 how they felt during distance learning to understand how Covid-19 affects mental health.

Child psychotherapy specialist Nils Sakss Konstantinovs presents the results of the research – about 50% of the respondents answer that distance learning has had a negative effect, 30% say that they would like to receive additional support.

Nils Sakss Konstantīnovs says that the survey shows that unknown situations increase the anxiety of teenagers, the second problem is that the situation prevented opportunities for socialization.

Christian describes the security situation at the beginning of his studies as absurd, that everyone in the class is together, they can even embrace, but when going down the hall, everyone has to keep a distance of two meters. There are 10-minute breaks when you can go out and be alone.

The impact of mental affairs is long-term, it is important for adolescents to understand all activities. Adaptive adolescents will cope well in all situations, because adolescents’ brains are flexible, otherwise they are more difficult to adapt to different situations, says Konstantinov.

For teens, returning to school is stressful in any situation.

In this case, a positive effect for teenagers will be a situation where there are strict steps and rules at school.

The most important –

for adolescents to have fresh air and the opportunity to move, it is as important as the academic knowledge that students will gain at school.

It is also important to tell teenagers how to recognize that the stress in the brain is too great, because a large number of students will not notice that the teenager is feeling bad. One in four to five adolescents is experiencing some difficulty, 30% of whom need help (these are roughly data because no studies have been done).

Christian himself experienced anxiety and depression. He believes that young people do not want to show these feelings, go to school and pretend that everything is fine. Adolescents need support in this situation.

Nils Saxon Konstantinov invites parents and adolescents to talk to a school psychologist; if the situation is more complicated, then help should be sought.

Christian’s experience with the school psychologist was negative, he believes that school psychologists need a higher knowledge requirement.

Adolescents need to be brought up to strengthen them to overcome the difficulties that will definitely be in life, emphasizes Nils Sakss Konstantinovs.

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