Mental health pilot project a first for Abu Dhabi schools
A group of Abu Dhabi schools is running a pilot project to teach pupils how to manage mental health stress, as part of their curriculums.
Emirates National Schools has linked up with the World Health Organisation to get young people talking about the pressure on them, to recognise it in others and to prepare them for the future.
Pupils will be taught anger management, how to manage their emotions and mindfulness – a psychological method to focus and clear one’s mind. It is increasingly being used to manage stress and anxiety.
Research shows about one in five children and adolescents have a mental health problem or disorder, while
half of all mental problems begin before the age of 14.
The project is also being run in co-operation with the National Rehabilitation Centre. If successful, it could be introduced across the country and the region.
Dr Hesham Hamoda, a consultant of child and adolescent psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital, told The National that young people needed to be better prepared for the future.
“The opportunity we have here is to affect the lives of many people,” said Dr Hamoda, also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
“School mental health is a very important topic. We know that one fifth of children suffer from a mental health problem.
“We also know that half of mental health problems starts in adolescence and childhood so we have an opportunity not only to tackle an issue that is a public health crisis, but also an issue that is important to the development of nations.”
The programme and how it could be integrated into curriculums will be discussed with the education authorities in Abu Dhabi this week.
It is expected that it would be delivered mainly in Arabic with a separate course for English-language classes.
Emirates National Schools is a private operator of three secondary schools with mainly Emirati pupils.
“When we talk about mental health, it isn’t just because it is an important topic but because it touches on so many different areas,” Dr Hamoda said. “The UAE is making important efforts in improving its educational capacity and I think attention to mental health would allow schools to take the next step.
“This programme fits into the core responsibilities of a school because we know that students with better emotional and mental health do better.
“This reduces juvenile crime rates and school drop-outs, so this is very important in terms of public policy.”
In 2013, the National Rehabilitation Centre introduced a programme to teach schoolchildren about the hazards of smoking and taking drugs. The initiative, called Unplugged, was also implemented at Emirates National Schools.
“We used the experiences and challenges we had with Unplugged and developed this new programme,” said Ayesha Al Hosani, a health educator at the centre.
“The programme is both life skills and mental health. This year we are assessing the situation and getting all of those holders involved. It is not only about schoolchildren but parents as well.”
Dr Hamad Al Ghaferi, director of the rehabilitation centre, said the school and authorities were ready to embrace what he called a unique project in schools.
“This will be the first such programme in the Middle East and the region,” Dr Al Ghaferi said. “We want to introduce the concept of healthy schools. There are healthy cities but not healthy schools.”