Karl Vella Foundation launches 180 psycho-social tool kits for professionals working with children, adolescents and youths

In conclusion to Spark, a 30month Erasmus+ project, a collaboration between three countries, Karl Vella Foundation (KVF) has launched tool kits for professionals, designed to help youngsters process their thoughts and explain their emotions through drama, art and body movement.

The launch of these tool kits was part of the Erasmus+ multiplier event and was held at St Clare’s College Secondary School, Pembroke on Tuesday, 25 April. During the launch KVF’s director, Claire Chircop explained that KVF, being a non-profit organisation always struggles when it comes to funds, especially since all its services are provided by mental health professionals. This project was a perfect opportunity for KVF to train its staff and implement what was learnt with the children and adolescents attending its programmes, and now through these tool kits, we are sharing the knowledge with other professionals in the field.

Present for the launch were the Minister of Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima; the Minister for the Economy, European Funds and Lands Silvio Schembri; President Emeritus Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca; Bernice Bonello, Opposition spokesperson for Youth and European Funds, Antoinette Vassallo, Commissioner for Children as well as other distinguished guests and educators and professionals in the psycho-social field.

Minister Grima said that when children are faced with trauma, it is crucial for them to find support. Maltese society is fortunate to have various organisations which promote the wellbeing of children. Minister Schembri noted that various families and young people go through difficult situations and congratulated Chircop for having identified a particular need within society which was not being met and for setting up KVF to help cater for these needs.

Mark Calleja, KVF’s psychological support manager, explained the rationale behind these tool kits. This Erasmus+ project was a collaboration between MOAVE (Slovenia), FoRC (Romania) and KVF. KVF has worked for many years with children and adolescents going through trauma by using different modalities. Spark gave the opportunity to collaborate with professionals, from other countries, working in a similar field, and to learn from other’s experiences and expertise. The culmination of Spark was the creation of the tool kits by the professionals involved. These online tool kits may be accessed on KVF’S website

During the launch, Leanne Libreri spoke about her experience during the training she attended in Romania which was about working with art. Noelle Camilleri, Diana Bajada and Liana Kovacheva each gave a brief interesting presentation of how the tool kits may be used. A short video with testimonials from children, attending KVF programmes, who have benefited from Spark was also presented.

In conclusion Jonathan Attard, principal of St Clare’s College said that it is an honour to host the event at the school. He thanked KVF for their work and the toolkits and encouraged professionals working with children to make use of the modalities of art, drama and body movement to help children express themselves.