Psychologists estimate that up to 80% of young people who are suicidal “leave signs” and that school is “the best place to prevent it”. Starting from this premise, the Department of Education of the Basque Government has begun to train 1,800 professionals on Monday in the detection, intervention and prevention of suicidal behaviour. Teachers and other professionals from more than 900 centers that provide Primary Education, ESO, Baccalaureate, Vocational Training and Adult Education participate in this course.
The training is taking place at the Bilbao Exhibition Center and is part of the Strategy for the prevention, intervention and prevention of suicidal behavior in education, drawn up by the Departments of Education and Health, and presented in October last year. The initiative is called Training in detection, intervention and prevention of suicidal behavior in the educational field.
The people who participate in this project are part of the BAT teams (Bullyingaren Aurkako Taldea, launched with the Bizikasi initiative for positive coexistence and against bullying), among other professional profiles or other figures related to coexistence and the protection and well-being of students.
During her speech at the opening of the training activity, the Deputy Minister of Education, Begoña Pedrosa, highlighted the importance of building a school that cares for and promotes the emotional well-being of students and, in this sense, referred to the Bizikasi initiative of the Education deparment.
“Since we launched the initiative, the objective has been to promote that educational centers are safe spaces for positive coexistence and zero tolerance for possible situations of bullying. This is essential to achieve the main objective of the education system: to help all students in their personal development and provide them with the skills and tools to participate in society as active and responsible citizens”, he indicated.
Likewise, the deputy minister has indicated that “it is necessary to educate for coexistence, working on emotional competence, promoting learning through dialogue and promoting the pedagogy of care. They also have to develop skills such as helping and asking for help, giving and receiving good treatment, and developing self-esteem, active listening, assertiveness, resilience and empathy. That is, to build a school that cares for and promotes the emotional well-being of students from solidarity”.
Suicide prevention requires, as they explained at the conference, a multisectoral approach, which fully touches the educational system. Early identification of suicidal thoughts and behaviour, and effective care of those at risk, are crucial to ensuring that people receive the care they need and deserve, so early action is critical to any management strategy. suicide prevention.
The objective of this training initiative is to train the professional group in the educational field so that they acquire specific knowledge to detect young people who are at risk of suicide, respond educationally by implementing protection measures and know how to refer them to specialized health services.
The training sessions this week are being given by Jon Garcia Ormaza, psychiatrist in the Bizkaia Mental Health Network, Alexander Muela Aparicio, PhD in Psychology and professor at the UPV, and Aitor Albizu Intxausti, coordinator of the field of Coexistence and response to the Diversity of the Berritzegune Nagusia (Department of Education). Hand in hand with these experts and during the eight hours of this course, they will address the following issues:
Prior to these training sessions that take place at the BEC, the Department of Education has carried out training in the prevention of suicidal behavior both to the Educational Inspectorate and to the Berritzegunes coexistence advisories.
The presentations and material used in the training sessions, as well as the recordings of the sessions will be universally available on the Bizikasi initiative website.
In general, universal student suicide prevention programs incorporate social-emotional learning activities. Lifelong learning programs for socio-emotional skills that students receive. The Bizikasi initiative, running since 2017, includes the work carried out in centers in the Basque Country for many years and offers a program of actions focusing on the learning of protective factors such as emotional regulation, problem-solving and coping skills, decision-making, positive coexistence, bullying prevention and health education.
