UBI promotes mental health

The University of Beira Interior (UBI), in Covilha, will implement a project to promote mental health, with an investment of 307 thousand euros that will make it possible to strengthen the response in the region and diversify the type of intervention.
The “AltaMente Saadáveis” programme, which lasts for three years and is funded by the Program for the Promotion of Mental Health in Higher Education, aims to focus specifically on prevention, although it also allows the Psychological Support Office to be provided with other services.
“There has never been a project of this size at the university in the field of mental health. I believe this will make a big difference in this area,” Amelia Augusto, vice-rector for quality, social responsibility and social work, told Lusa.
In addition to the two psychiatrists, the university will now have the support of two others, a sports coach and a psychiatrist, not to provide consultations, but so that it can provide a kind of monitoring and liaison with National Health Service specialties. health.
“This project will allow us not only to strengthen what we are already doing, which is very important, but also to carry out different interventions and focus in particular on prevention. It will allow us to invest in different activities, with different purposes,” the Vice-Rector for Quality, Social Responsibility and Social Action explained to Lusa. “Different.”
The coordinator of “AltaMente Saadáveis” highlighted that aspects such as the pandemic, social isolation and dismantling of stigmas associated with mental health justify that more people from the academic community are looking for this answer, which has already offered therapy, group sessions and relaxation sessions.
But “the spirit of the program is not only aimed at psychotherapy, because prevention is better than intervention,” explained Amelia Augusto, which is why UBI will train students from all courses and teachers to be “emotional guardians”, people able to identify and help colleagues in difficulties.
The program aims to promote physical exercise and healthy lifestyles as a form of prevention and create spaces where students from different colleges can interact.
“A large part of the intervention in terms of prevention includes sport as a tool to improve moments of social interaction and promote healthy lifestyles,” revealed the Vice President of UBI.
Another tool that will be created, under the responsibility of the Dean of Digital Affairs, Pedro Inácio, in collaboration with the IT Department, is an online resource that the academic community can use independently, with self-help and other types of content. available.
“We believe that these are resources that they handle well and that they receive better than, for example, information transmitted through traditional means, such as a leaflet,” Amelia Augusto explained.
The Vice Chancellor stressed that “the well-being of students is a concern of the rectory” and added that “mental health issues are part of the well-being of students.”
The first project meeting has already been held and the implementation of the “AltaMente Saadáveis” project will now begin.