- The Real Changers solidarity initiative allocates funds to Fundación ANAR to raise awareness, prevent and support adolescents suffering from psychological problems.
- Mental health was the first cause of requests for help from children and adolescents who contacted the ANAR Helplines.
- To give visibility to this reality, ANAR Foundation and Women’secret have launched a solidarity initiative, through the Real Changers initiative, which contributes to awareness, training and direct help.
Fundación ANAR reinforces its awareness-raising, training and guidance initiatives with the support of the Real Changers solidarity project, which will allocate €30,000 to promote the eradication of stigma and prejudice about mental health among adolescents. At the same time, it will contribute to their welfare through the ANAR Helplines. This program stems from the collaboration agreement that the Foundation has signed with Women’secret, the brand behind the Real Changers solidarity project.
The ANAR Helplines deal with an average of 700 requests for help per day, of which an average of between 15 and 16 are high-risk situations that require intervention with emergency services, Security Forces, etc.
In 2023 (year of the last ANAR Annual Report), mental health was the first cause of request for help by children and adolescents who contacted the ANAR Telephone/Chat, accounting for 42.9% of the total number of consultations.
Of particular concern is suicidal behavior, due to its exponential growth in recent years. Thus, the ANAR Helplines attended to 5,198 cases of suicidal ideation or attempts in the aforementioned year, of which 1,278 had already begun the self-initiated process. Their call to the appropriate resource saved their lives.
According to the Opinion Barometer of UNICEF Spain and the University of Seville (2024), which addresses the problem of mental health, 1 in 4 adolescents think that people with mental health problems feel ashamed. Likewise, according to the study, 41% of adolescents present more or less serious mental health problems, with the particularity that more than 50% of serious mental disorders in adult life begin in adolescence.
In this context, the objective of the Real Changers initiative is to have an impact on three areas of action: to raise awareness and prevent mental health problems affecting children and adolescents through workshops aimed at students in 3rd and 4th year of ESO; to contribute to the preparation of the counsellors of the Helplines with 10 training scholarships for the course “Psychological counseling and crisis intervention by the ANAR Helplines: Phone/Chat”; and to encourage the support of said Helplines, as an integral resource to reach more children and adolescents who need the listening and guidance of the Foundation’s professionals.
Training
The scholarships are aimed at obtaining the diploma “Psychological counseling and crisis intervention by ANAR Helplines: Telephone/Chat”, which consists of a total of 400 hours, of which 30 are theoretical training, 40 are practical training and 330 are internships supervised by the Foundation’s team. The scholarships financed by Women’secret will contribute to the training of expert psychologists in childhood and adolescence, reinforcing their tools and skills to be able to attend the ANAR Helplines.
Real Changers will also contribute to the support of the ANAR Helplines, which provide a free, confidential and anonymous service, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, staffed by psychologists, supported by social workers and lawyers.
For Benjamín Ballesteros, technical director of Fundación ANAR, “initiatives such as ‘Real Changers’ are vital for the development and maintenance of the programs carried out by the NGOs. This collaboration with Women’secret is also very interesting because of its approach to the cause from three different angles, which will not only contribute to direct aid, but also to prevention, which is key to generating real change”.
Awareness and prevention
On the other hand, the “Prevention, awareness and training workshops on the promotion of Mental Health in adolescents” offer tools to promote emotional well-being and self-knowledge. These workshops promote self-exploration and emotional growth, helping adolescents discover their inner strength and confidence, “secrets” that will strengthen them emotionally and help them take care of both their mental health and their development.
Women’secret is aligned with this philosophy of emotional well-being and self-knowledge and collaborates with health organizations to support all efforts to achieve this.
For its general manager, Eva Romeo, “the fact that the Real Changers project contributes to financing Fundación ANAR’s ‘Mental Health’ initiative is fundamental to improving the mental health of our children and adolescents, the important thing is to remind them that, on this journey, they are not alone and that a phone call will start the process towards their recovery”.
In this sense, Pilar Reviriego Yenes, coordinator of Secondary Education and Baccalaureate at the Divina Pastora School, where Fundación ANAR teaches some of its workshops, highlights how these workshops “promote fundamental values such as empathy, active listening and respect for differences. These qualities are essential for mediators, also to strengthen coexistence and the general welfare of the educational community”.