The Ministry for Education, Sports, Youth, Research and Innovation (MEYR) in Malta, through the People Management Department and in collaboration with the Commissioner for Mental Health and Richmond Foundation, embarked on a 3-year-long project aimed at increasing mental health literacy (MHL) among secondary school educators and students.

The project involved training 20% of state secondary school educators in Youth Mental Health (YMHFA) and training all Year 9 students (13-14-year-olds) each scholastic year in teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA). YMHFA is a mental health literacy (MHL) programme designed for adults working with young people whilst tMHFA is a school-based universal programme that aims to increase student supportive behaviours towards peers, MHL and beliefs about help and support available. Both YMHFA and tMHFA are evidence-based MHL programmes developed in Australia by Betty Kitchener and Anthony Jorm (Sanchez, et al., 2021; Wilcox, et al., 2023).

During the scholastic year 2022-2023, 2561 students were trained in tMHFA and during the scholastic year 2023-2024, 2450 students benefited from the training. Over the two scholastic years 328 educators were trained in YMHFA. The current 3-year programme will continue up until the school year 2024-2025, during which a further 2554 Year 9 students will be trained in tMHFA and a further 119 educators will be trained in YMHFA.

For more information:

• Sanchez. A. M., Latimer. J. D., Scarimbolo. K., von der Embse. N.P., Suido. S. M. & Salvatore. C. R. (2021). Youth Mental Health First Aid (Y-MHFA) Trainings for Educators: A Systematic Review. School Mental Health, 13, 1-12. Doi: 10.1007/s12310-020-09393-8

• Wilcox. H. C., Pas. E., Murray. S, Kahn. G., DeVinney. A., Bhakta. S., Rosenbaum. L. & Hart. L. M. (2023). Effectiveness of teen Mental Health First Aid in Improving Teen-to-Teen Support Among American Adolescents. Journal of School Health, 2023

Source: Eurydice Unit Malta