SENSE - Shaping Emotionally Nurturing School Environments

SENSE wants to improve the mental health of secondary school students by equipping teachers with the KNOWLEDGE, RESOURCES and SKILLS needed to succeed in providing low threshold PROMOTION, PREVENTION and EARLY INTERVENTION in students’ mental health.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of strengthening the mental health of secondary school students. While all sections of society were affected with severe mental health impacts, children and adolescents appeared particularly vulnerable and suffered at a higher rate due to pandemic conditions and the deferral of needs over a long period of time.  Those with psychosocial risk factors were particularly affected. Repeated lockdowns, the challenges associated with distance learning, more difficult contact between teachers and their students, more difficult identity formation due to social isolation and loneliness, concern for their own health and that of their relatives and others, lack of support networks from friends in some cases, general uncertainty and worry about the future all contributed to an increase in students' stress levels.  The number of children and adolescents suffering from sleep disorders and other psychosomatic complaints, sadness, anxiety, frustration, addictive behaviour, eating disorders, self-harming behaviour or depression, even suicide attempts, has risen sharply. Psychologists such as the coordinator of the Horizon 2020 project RISE, Nina Heinrichs, claim that in the last two years the percentage of students showing symptoms of depression has increased from 10% before the pandemic to 20-25%.  In an Austrian study, 68% of young people reported negative effects of the pandemic on their mental health.  While scientific studies are still ongoing in this regard,  psychologists and educators warn about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of students, especially those already at risk before the pandemic.  The challenge of protecting and promoting the mental health of secondary school students will thus remain post-pandemic. 
A variety of measures are proposed. Experts such as the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina call for increased support from psychologists and social workers, as well as programmes to train teachers in promoting the mental health of their students and acting as an "early warning system" for mental health problems.