Webinar #1: “The Gender Gap in Mental Health of Young People“

The share of young people reporting symptoms of depression, stress or anxiety has more than doubled during the pandemic. Numbers are still alerting high all over Europe. Recent studies also underline a persisting gender gap, of young women being three times more likely to experience anxiety-related conditions.

 The webinar “The Gender Gap in Mental Health of Young People“ has shed light on challenges of mental health of young people and highlight approaches, methods and tools to strengthen the mental health and wellbeing of young people in general and for the most vulnerable ones. The guest speakers, coming from relevant organisation (GÖG Austria, University of Kragujevac Serbia, Eurohealthnet Belgium), used recent data and facts to describe the situation of young people, focusing on gender-specific differences. Based on this, practical experiences, approaches and tools that have been co-created with young people has been shared asking how the mental health of young people, especially of the most vulnerable ones, can be promoted. Inputs took into account the mental health related risks regarding school performance, labour market integration and social integration.

Webinar programme:

13:00 - 13:10    Welcome and introduction

13:10 - 13:30    Strengthening the psychosocial health of young people in Austria in line with their needs: Gender-specific challenges and approaches (Mag. Dr. Irina Vana, Mag. a. Sylvia Gaiswinkler, Mag. Sophie Sagerschnig, Mag. Michaela Pichler, GÖG, Austria) 

13:30 - 13:45   Gender Gap and the Potential of Positive Education in Strengthening Resilience and Wellbeing of Youth (Dr. Mirjana Beara Benjak, University of Kragujevac, Serbia)                                                             

13:45 - 14:00   Icehearts Europe – Mental health support for vulnerable youth through sports and mentorship (Hannes Jarke, EuroHealthNet, Belgium)           

14:00 - 14:30   Discussion and exchange of experience