Resilience Academy Mental Health Classes for Teens

Did you know?

• In 2014, suicide was the second leading cause of death among 15 – 29 year olds globally (World Health Organisation, 2014).
• Ireland has 4th highest suicide rate for 15 – 19-year-olds in Europe (Kelly, 2017)
• In addition Ireland has the highest rate of child suicide for girls up to the age of 19 (Womens Council Ireland,2018).

It has been reported that...

• For every Irish boy aged 15 – 17 who dies by suicide, 16 present with self-harm to hospitals and 146 self-harm in the community ((McMahon and colleagues, 2014).
• For every Irish girl who dies by suicide, 162 present to hospital with self-harm (based on data from 1997 – 2011).

Pieta house had seen 163% increase in people under age of 18 presenting due to suicide or self-harm in the five years between 2011-2016

In 2018, 2,457 young people under the age of 18 attended Pieta House for crisis counselling

The Resilience Academy is Pieta Houses response to the above statistic

Core Goals of Resilience Academy:

• Replace stigma with acceptance by educating young people about mental health and encouraging open dialogue.
• Improve understanding of body changes in adolescence that might affect emotions and behaviour.
• Teaching coping strategies to improve resilience in at risk youth.
• Encouraging students to enhance protective factors that have been shown to reduce suffering and/or encourage help seeking behaviour.
• Promoting a number of mental health services available so adolescents know where to seek help if necessary.

2017/2018 Academic Year = Resilience Academy delivered to 623 students in 8 schools

2018/2019 Academic Year = Resilience Academy delivered to 6,258 students in 270 classrooms in 69 schools across 18 counties in Ireland

Links:

• Pieta House Website
• Pieta House Facebook