8 November 2021
From 3 to 6 November 2021 UNESCO in cooperation with youth-led initiative group “ZESEKU” organized the online sessions to improve mental health of young people from the Central Asian countries and Russia.
Their geographical position was the following:
Kazakhstan – 42,7%
Kyrgyzstan – 42,9%
Tajikistan – 5%
Uzbekistan – 4%
Russian Federation – 5.4%
All youth respondents had to answer the question with multiple answers: “Are you currently facing mental health problems?”
Their answers were structured as below:
The most common problem was associated with youth anxiety – 74,4% of respondents mentioned this as their main mental health problem at the moment. 60,7% of young people selected “stress” and 46,2% chose “grief” as consequences of the self-isolation and distance learning during the health crisis. Depression is a similar problem for 37,6 % of youth respondents. Other two mental health issues were related to “panic attacks” (23,1%) and “phobia” (22,2%).
During a three-day online mental health course, around 50 young people from the sub-region improved their skills to overcome negative consequences pandemic has caused on them, mainly were engaged in the sessions with the experienced psychologist, Ms. Olga Solonenko:
- Living in isolation and its psychological consequences
- Psychological difficulties due to distance learning
- Gender gap and gender-based violence amid pandemic
As a result of this initiative, young people knew about the root causes of mental health issues and possible ways to resolve them without a negative impact on their personality or their closest ones.
Permanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/unesco-supported-the-youth-led-action-to-improve-mental-health-of-central-asian-youth-in