[Short summary in ENG below]
June was very busy and important in terms of the development of the ENVTL. In the first half of the month, media training took place, but in the second half we were able to spend the whole day discussing our vision, missions and strategy to reach them. The following is an overview of what happened at these two meetings.
Media training
Mental health issues have become more and more popular, and we have also tried to speak out in the media and on the Internet and share our thoughts and recommendations. However, the more widely our activities have spread and the membership has started to grow, the more we find that there is a lack of basic knowledge in the field of communication with the media.
Thus, on June 9, the first training series on media communication took place in the ENVTL Active Citizens' Foundation. We recruited the wonderful UT journalism lecturer Signe Ivaski as a trainer.
Some of the main thoughts that came out of the training:
- When giving interviews, it is only worth answering the question - there is no need to answer more broadly than has been asked!
- You should always think about which message I am going to give a presentation / give an interview / write an article and then keep the focus on the message. There should be no more than three messages in focus at a time!
- People don't read the corrected news, so it's important to make sure it's what we said before you publish the story!
The first place we were able to use what we learned was a mini-campaign on eating disorders. To do this, we created a publishing plan and sought out several professionals and journalists who might want to work with us. The results of the work can be seen both on our blog and on the public wall of Facebook. In any case, our message was hopefully clear: the health behavior of athletes needs to be addressed and their physical and mental health taken seriously;.
Blog posts created as part of the media campaign:
- "Athlete's mental health is as important as physical" is here.
- "The risks of aesthetic sports can also be mitigated" here.
- "If you notice, talk" is located here.
The author of the mini-campaign on eating disorders is Merle Purre, the leader of the Estonian Youth Mental Health Movement. The stories were shared by the young people of ENVTL and Ailen Suurtee, a clinical psychologist and Peaasi.ee counselor and trainer, gave her comment.
The first meeting to draw up a development plan
On June 16, the group met with our leaders to start thinking and quietly put together a five-year development plan. The aim of the development plan is to make ENVTL more strategic and concentrated in order to ensure long-term operational capability. DD Stratlab helps us in the process of compiling the development plan, under whose guidance we have started to formulate our vision and mission and to collect opinions from our partners about our activities.
At the meeting, we formulated both our vision and goals. We held brainstorming sessions on the nature of our organization and possible developments (located at the end of the post picture 1 and picture 2 is our vision of an ideal mental health society). For the further preparation of the development plan, we mapped our main partners from whom we could start collecting input. During the summer, we meet with partners and discuss their and their own future plans and set what the partner organizations expect of us. During the summer, we will also become more familiar with reading materials that support the understanding of how mental health works. The deadline for completion of the development plan is December 2020.
Picture 1. The first group found that in an ideal world, both evidence-based approaches to mental health issues and mental health care should be based on an evidence-based approach. There would be regular mental health check-ups and all people would be valued - no one needs to feel that their experience needs to be compared to someone else's. At national level, young people would also be listened to and valued, because young people are our future.
Picture 2. The second group, like the first, thought that regular mental health checks / monitoring were needed to get to the section as early as possible if someone needed help. It was emphasized that people are more aware and follow the three "boring pillars" - that is, they get enough sleep, eat healthily and are physically active. In addition, it was pointed out that the increase in the number of specialists is in line with the need for them, and society believes that mental health disorders exist, although they are not visible to the naked eye.
The completion of the media training and development plan is supported by the Active Citizens' Fund. Funded by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, the Active Citizens' Fund supports organizations to reduce economic and social inequalities in Central and Southern Europe as well as in the Baltics. The Estonian Youth Mental Health Movement has received funding for the project "Strategic Involvement of Young People in the Mental Health Movement."
"Together green, strong and inclusive For Europe. "
[ENG]
The month of June has been very dense for ENVTL (an acronym used to refer to the Estonian Youth Movement for Mental Health). Firstly, on the 9th of June, we had a workshop about communicating with media and how to compile a media plan. From the knowledge we gained from the workshop, we composed a minicampaing about eating disorders. Posts on the subject can be found on our blog.
On the 16th of June we had a meeting with DD Stralab to start drawing up a development plan for the next five years. The purpose of the development plan is to act strategically and ensure sustainable activities in the future.
“Working together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe ”
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