About education
In order to contribute to the protection and reduction of the negative impact of the current health crisis on the mental health crisis on the mental health and well-being of children, adolescents and their parents, BHIDAPA started on 21.05.2020. with the training Virtual crisis interventions “Here&Now” in cooperation with UNICEF BIH and with the support of the Goverment of the Kingdom of Sweden.
The training/education aims to empower professionals from mental health centers, social work centers and educational institutions in the application of virtual/telephone crisis interventions in working with children, youth and families respecting child protection standards, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2-month training is based on an integrative-holistic and humanistic approach, salutogenically oriented and enables the creation and provision of multidisciplinary teams to provide virtual crisis interventions, and in future crisis situations. The leaders of the educational program are members of the professional multidisciplinary team of BHIDAPA.
We thank our project partners: UNICEF BIH and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden, as well as the Federal Ministry of Health, the Educational and Pedagogical Institute of Sarajevo Canton and the Public Institution Cantonal Center for Social Work for their support.
We would like to thank our colleagues that are involved in this project for their exceptional interest and active participation.
Problem identification and response
The situation caused by Corona virus, the introduction of measures to ban movement, close schools, switch to online classes, work from home, has caused children and adolescents to find themselves in a specific and new situation. Difficulties faced by their parents, such as high levels of stress caused by the emerging health crisis, job loss, work from home, poverty and social exclusion, affect children directly. Restrictive measures due to coronavirus could lead to a significant increase in domestic violence and should be aimed at preventing and raising public and professional awareness of the dangers of increasing domestic violence during isolation, violence against children, abuse and neglect. Based on the small number of previous studies on the impact of quarantine and isolation on mental health, it can be concluded that an increased number of people with mental health problems can be expected. Children and adolescents are especially at risk, due to developmental specifics and vulnerability. Analogously, professionals need to be strengthened and the necessary virtual/telephone professional assistance provided to children and their parents.
Response to the situation
BHIDAPA is able with its multidisciplinary professional team and associates to implement specific education/training: Virtual Crisis Interventions “Here&Now”, the application of virtual/telephone crisis interventions and treatments for professionals in social work centers, mental health centers schools.
This education aims to empower professionals in the application of virtual/telephone crisis interventions in working with children, youth and families while respecting standards on child protection.
Specifically created educational/training Virtual Crisis Interventions “Here&Now” for comprehensive training on crisis interventions is based on integrative-holistic and humanistic approach to people salutogenically oriented, according to the Model of preventive programs “Healthy Development” in professional and educational spaces (Lindstom, B., Eriksson, M., Wikstrom, P., 2014, prilagođen, Badurina, 2016).
Program implementation dynamics
Training/Education“Here&Now” lasts 2 months and incorporates 8 modules More
Modules are conducted once a week and their duration is 4 hours ( a total of 32 hours for the entire education)
Number of participants: 20-25 participants per group
