Emerging from Obscurity: Exposure of Previously Hidden Elements
In Brandenburg, Germany, approximately 56,000 children up to the age of 14 are growing up in families affected by addiction or mental health issues. Recognising the need for action, the State Office for Addiction Issues has initiated the "Self-Determined" project to strengthen professionals and improve cooperation among existing actors.
The "Self-Determined" project, aimed at professionals in various sectors, has been initiated to identify children from affected families early on. The approach for this project was taken from Rhineland-Palatinate, with examples like family centers in Cottbus where children can accompany their parents to appointments.
Mental illnesses are on the rise, according to Daniela Teichert, chairperson of AOK Nordost, who is involved in the "Self-Determined" project. A shift in focus from treating diseases to preventing them is suggested.
The Technical University plans to start a course for primary school educators in the winter semester 2026/27. The GVK alliance for health will train professionals in dealing with affected children and young people, and their parents, with 1.7 million euros by 2029.
More than half of the surveyed professionals in Brandenburg reported dealing often or very often with affected children, but many did not know any help offers in this field. The professionals surveyed wished for more time, more staff, more funding, and more networking and offers for their work.
Britta Müller, Brandenburg's Health Minister, attributes the rise in mental health issues to long COVID. Around a third of these children and young people are expected to develop an addiction or mental health disorder themselves, which is close to the national average.
The "Self-Determined" project aims to provide strategies and resources aimed at helping professionals identify and support children growing up in families affected by addiction or mental health issues. However, the specific detailed resources of this project are not described in the provided search results.
The German Safer Internet Centre runs a large anonymous counselling service via Nummer gegen Kummer e.V., which supports children, adolescents, parents, and carers with various issues including mental health and family problems. They help callers find solutions and provide referrals to professional help or reliable information sources.
Training professionals (teachers, social workers, healthcare providers) to recognise signs of addiction or mental health struggles in family contexts, providing specialised educational materials or screening tools, offering coordinated referral networks to counselling, therapy, and social support services, and supporting empowerment and resilience-building approaches for children are typical strategies of projects like "Self-Determined".
If you need precise details about the "Self-Determined" project in Brandenburg, I recommend consulting official Brandenburg or German social service publications, or contacting local child welfare and addiction support organisations directly, as the available search results do not specifically describe their approach.
- The "Self-Determined" project, centred on professionals in various sectors, emphasizes learning strategies and resources to aid early identification of children from families impacted by addiction or mental health issues.
- Recognizing the increasing prevalence of mental illnesses, the "Self-Determined" project, spearheaded by AOK Nordost, advocates a shift from disease treatment to prevention.
- In an effort to equip professionals with the necessary skills, the Technical University plans to initiate a course in education-and-self-development for primary school educators, while the GVK alliance aspires to provide training in health-and-wellness for dealing with affected children and parents by 2029.
