European Network for Mental Health Promotion and Mental Disorder Prevention Barcelona 13/15 September 2007

Purpose of the paper

Meeting the alter is always an experience that tests us: we try to eliminate differences by force, while it can also offer us the on going challenge of communication. This paper will describe a research-intervention project in a mental health district of the city of Rome In this project, high school students worked together with severe mentally ill patients to produce a multimedia format

Network Prevention with Adolescents and the Format Group

G. Di Cesare 1, A. Ciolfi 2, G. Ducci 3
1 DSM
3

ASL Roma E, PreSaM 2 PreSaM DSM ASL Roma E, PreSaM

Goal
Making of an integrated theatre atelier with the involvement of high school students and Psychiatric Day Centres users Creation of a Format, that is a multimedia documentary production. This production, starting from the reworking of files and bibliographic material, films, video, photographs, poems, etc, will become a creative path, intune with sensibilities and idiolect of young people, and will give a less stigmatising image of the psychiatric illness. The Format will be used as an instrument of divulgence and discussion, at first, into the involved schools and secondly into the regional schools (Peer Education)

Advisory Board

PreSaM - Barcellona 2007

Project Participants
30 students 23 females 7 males

Enlarged Group Brain Storming on prejudices

Newspapers reading Group

TV broadcasts Group

Movies Group

10 users of community psychiatric units 6 females 4 males Enlarged Group Discussion about the work of the groups

6 professionals 4 females 2 males

Newspapers reading Group

TV Broadcasts Group

Research, carried out during 2006, on 3 main national newspapers, on 2 local newspapers and on 2 magazines With a clear ideological position: one from the left and one from the right.

Research, carried out between 2001 and 2006, on programmes dealing with mental health issues and on news concerning events with psychiatric content

PreSaM - Barcellona 2007

Project development

Movies Group
Research on the way the issue is treated Analysis of prejudices

Phase One

Research, carried out between 1996 and 2006, on movies concerning psychiatry and mental health issues.

Phase Two

Working out of the material Format production

Phase Three

Format diffusion through the peer education method

Peer Education

System by which people of same age, status and experience can exchange information and learn from each other It refers to the idea of communication between peers or people belonging to the same status

Literally it is the mutual education/influence relationship that people of the same frame of reference establish at an informal or formal level

PreSaM - Barcellona 2007