Well-Being Working Group
Coordinator: Sara DAGOSTINI
Contact: wellbeing@apeee-eeb1.org
 |
| Sara DAGOSTINI |
The Well-being of Children and Adolescents Working Group explores, proposes and develops initiatives to ensure pupils’ well-being at school, focusing on aspects of school life that are beyond the purely pedagogical: the emotional balance of adolescents inside and outside the classroom, the development of healthy relationship with peers and adults, and indirectly the quality and safety of the physical environment. Recently the groups has started focusing also on the mental health of the pupils. The group actively works to address the challenges faced by today's children, parents and teachers.
General Scope of Activity: The target audience of our work is the pupils, but we also work through teachers and parents. The main channels are:
- Ateliers for pupils and interventions in class
- Parent and pupil lunchtime conferences
Current initiatives include:
- EVRAS (Éducation à la vie relationnelle, affective et sexuelle): prevention programme under implementation in Secondary
- Substance abuse prevention (Secondary): policy and prevention programme under development
- Digital risks: policy and prevention programme to be developed
- Mindfulness: prevention programme to be explored for Secondary
- Values: prevention programme under implementation in Secondary
- Several conferences: digital risks, mental health (for students, parents and educators)
- Child protection and smart phone policies: as part of school-level working groups
New initiatives to be explored, mainly for Secondary:
- Communication for students (assertive communication), for parents and teachers (emphatic communication)
- Conflict management
- Cyberbullying
- Food and nutrition. Understanding the impact of sugar
- Health and sleep
Participation and Working Methods: The group accepts committed Board Members and parents interested in identifying good quality speakers, initiating projects, and providing logistical support for events. The Well-Being Group encourages participation from all language sections to help broaden and enrich the programmes and approaches.
The group is divided into small subgroups per topic, with one or few members assigned to each project. Communication is primarily by email or phone but we also organise two or three general meetings every year to discuss, brainstorm and agree on new initiatives; separate meetings may also be organised for individual projects or initiatives. Members of the group may take meetings with the school management, educational advisors, teachers or the student committee (CdE) to forward our objectives. We also give non-binding opinions on projects submitted for APEEE funding within the scope of our work. The group reports to the APEEE Board on the progress of its activities and presents formal position papers on issues of high importance.
If you are interested in one or more of these activities, please contact our Secretariat at: info@apeee-eeb1.org
Mandate of the APEEE's Well-Being Working Group (January 2023)
See related issues and positions: Child Protection Policy, Drugs and Addictions and Mobile Phone Policy
Outlook for 2022-2023
The focus for this school year is to implement and consolidate the well-being framework in Secondary and trying to replicate the exercise (defining a Well Being framework) in Primary. Early September 2022 during a fruitful meeting between Secondary school management and WB group, the proposed WB framework was discussed and activities agreed. The framework defines a tailor made WB activity for each level based on the challenges faced by pupils at that age. The implementation has started and is progressing smoothly. In Secondary, EVRAS was kicked off, the prevention and substance abuse programme will continue with the same format,i.e with an external association as trainer. An emotional intelligence project was kicked off in autumn for early secondary. Ateliers about mental health and screen addictions are planned to kick off this school year, as continuation of the successful VALUE programme. The idea to extend the KIVA programme for Secondary was abandoned. In Primary, the emotional intelligence project will be replaced by the EVRAS. A series of conferences targeting parents are planned to raise awareness about mental health for teenagers.
Useful documents
“HIGH FIVE” - A helpful guide for students during distance learning (May 2021) -
Primary students | S1-S3 students | S4-S7 students
“HIGH FIVE” - A helpful guide for parents to support students during distance learning (May 2021) - Primary parents | S1-S3 parents | S4-S7 parents
APEEE Internet Safety Tips (March 2024)
Conference by Dr Sophie Dechêne, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, MD, MRCPsych, "Recreational screens: consequences for our children's health", Thursday 16 May from 19.30 to 21.30, Pupils' Canteen on the EEB1 campus in Uccle
Registration before Tuesday, 14 May 2024 at midnight:
https://www.eventbrite.be/e/billets-les-ecrans-recreatifs-consequences-sur-la-sante-de-nos-enfants-885513493697
Screens are part of our daily lives. Do you know how to separate recreational screen time from educational screen time? What impact do social networks and video games have on the development of our children's brains?
Based on the book "La fabrique du crétin digital", written by Michel Desmurget, researcher at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm, France), and on numerous international scientific studies, this talk by Dr Sophie Dechêne describes the proven and established effects of screens on our children's still immature brains. It illustrates and sheds light on the many decisions taken in Europe and around the world in recent years to limit children's access to recreational screens and social networks, particularly via smart mobile phones, during school time.
Our speaker, Dr Sophie Dechêne, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who meets children, adolescents and parents facing these problems on a daily basis.
Dr Dechêne will speak mainly in French, but will be able to answer questions in English.
The APEEE is expecting many of you, parents from primary 4 to secondary 7, and we recommend that you come accompanied by your children and/or teenagers from secondary school. Teachers, educational advisers, supervisors and management teams are warmly invited to attend the event.
An informal discussion on this topical issue will be held after the conference. Dr Dechêne and Sophie Lenoir, a child and adolescent psychotherapist in Brussels, will be on hand to answer individual questions.
The event is free, but the number of places is limited for safety reasons. When registering, you will be asked to specify how many people you are bringing. Please fill in the registration form precisely.
About the speakers:
Dr Sophie Dechêne is a child psychiatrist, head of the child psychiatry clinic at HELORA and head of the Hainaut mobile crisis team in Belgium. She also runs a private centre in Brabant Wallon in Belgium, the Enfance et Adolescence centre. Her interests lie in raising awareness of and dealing with the damage caused to children and teenagers by over-exposure to screens, combating the medicalisation of trans-identified children and teenagers, EVRAS (education in relationships, emotions and sex), combating the damage caused by exclusively positive parenting, and caring for children who are victims of conflictual parental separation. Finally, she is interested in the effects of expatriation on adolescents, and the influence of social trends on the mental health of children and adolescents.
She is the author of a number of articles on these subjects, including "Le haut potentiel en tant que diagnostic, une allégorie d'un mal-être sociétal" in Acta Psychiatrica Belgica, with Bernard Fourez and Beryl Koener, and "L'expatriation comme événement de vie personnel et familial à l'adolescence: intérêt de l'approche systémique familiale" in Acta Psychiatrica Belgica with E. de Becker and A. d'Alcantara. She has contributed to several books, including "Les séparations parentales conflictuelles, Conséquences, enjeux et prises en charge" by J.-E. Vanderheyden and E. de Becker, Séguier, D. (2021), and more recently the book "Het gender-experiment" by Martin Harlaar.
Sophie Lenoir is a psychotherapist for children and adolescents. She works with her patients using sandplay therapy, a fun and powerful tool for tackling symptoms such as emotional difficulties, physical problems (appetite, sleep, etc.) and behavioural changes in the family, school or social sphere. Work with parents can also be suggested if necessary. She consults at Espace Pluridys in Uccle.
For more information: www.co-naissance.be