The pressure of our current societal development on our youth shows important mental health issues in the form of trauma, anxiety, stress, negative self image, lack of confidence in the future, fear, etc. There are many reasons that cause such challenges: family pressure on educational performance, societal pressure due to expectations, lack of maturely balanced role models, broken families, general negativity in the media, social media influences, global instability, financial problems, etc.

During recent international encounters I met with educators from different areas of the world that were looking beyond their traditional teaching methods. They were passionate about values driven education and learning, looking into ways to empower the students with special attention, methods and overarching meaning. I myself participated with sustainocracy as overarching, human centered, societal approach to sustainable personal and regional development. We coincided so strongly that we started sharing insights, (proposed) publications, interaction with students, etc.

In general it opened a box of Pandora around mental issues in general and specifically seen in the context of the era we live in these days. Research shows that a stagering 12 to 15% of our upcoming generations suffer from some kind of mental or behavioral disorder. This is considered even a tip of the iceberg. My own experience, at societal level in my own region, places the burden even higher. Burdens that remain even unnoticed due to the tunnel vision of people forming society. This is influenced also by the recent Covid events, political polarization of societal diversity, lack of attention on values in the educational institutions (with certain exceptions) and the unreal pressure of the capitalist societal bias.

Gradually a network appears of professionals with a sense of responsibility, wanting to do things differently with and for our youth, to provide them with meaning, purpose, mental resilience and instruments to handle the challenges of this era effectively. If you wish to be part of this network feel free to contact me by email (jp@stadvanmorgen.com) or through replying to this blog.