According to the World Health Organization, 25% of the population will have a mental health problem throughout their life. Anxiety, depression or stress begins in 75% of cases before the age of 25. And adolescence is a vital period where many factors develop that can affect mental health and governments and institutions are increasingly aware of the need to take action on the matter. In fact, every October 10, World Mental Health Day is celebrated with the precise objective of raising awareness.
But what are the main problems and concerns of young people that lead them to what we commonly call being unwell? According to an article on child and adolescent mental health and families in situations of social vulnerability published by the program CaixaProinfanciathe family, despite the great transformations it has undergone in the last 50 years, continues to be the pillar of society. The Family influences are the most important because they are the firstbecause they have a special emotional intensity and because of their capacity to shape subsequent relationships outside the family.
The younger a child is, the more he or she needs a family that is sufficiently healthy and capable of emotional support. Later, and when we began to become adults, a community is needed that takes care of citizens ensuring decent housing, protection and security, social support for upbringing or an occupation and decent working conditions, among others. Necessary for everyone, but especially for families at risk of social vulnerability.
However, and despite the fact that since the pandemic, there is a growing interest in taking care of the mental health that caused so much havoc, there was also evidence that This sector is the ‘poor sister’ of the health system in generalas this article from the CaixaProinfancia program also points out. We are facing a public system that still focuses more on treatment than on prevention with interventions based above all on an individualistic and excessively medical perspective and where there are few places for these people and, for the most part, private ones.
But it is not only about getting more places or rooms, but about preventing, Ensure the mental health of citizens by improving social conditions of life through various initiatives that involve, as we pointed out, housing, work, conciliation or through programs for people at risk of social exclusion. From the “la Caixa” Foundation and through the Incorpora Mental Health line of the Incorpora program, people with mental health problems, people with physical, intellectual or sensory disabilities, women victims of gender violence, migrants, young people, people over 45 years of age and people with addiction problems, among others, to incorporate them into the workplace and, consequently, into society.
Incorpora Program of the “la Caixa” Foundation
When suicide is the first cause of death among people between 16 and 29 years old, according to journalist Gemma Nierga in an interview with Laia Ferrer, clinical psychologist and coordinator of the Vidal i Barraquer Foundation guiding team, this professional is clear: if they are not treated Possible depression and anxiety problems in children and adolescents In due course, we run the risk of them becoming chronic. Laila Ferrer, along the lines we mentioned above, gives us the keys based on her experience as to when young people are more prone to having mental health problems: “When there are traumatic experiences in childhood, but also when there are socioeconomic situations that greatly condition emotional well-being.”
Therefore, access to the world of work is more complicated for these people. An article from the Social Observatory points out that one of the possible explanations given is that the concentration of job insecurity among young people can slow down their expectations of emancipation and achieving their vital goals and that, for this reason, precariousness is a determining factor in mental health in young people. Laia Ferrer, along these lines, states that “they often need support to think about what capabilities they have to be able to develop at work.”
And as a collaborator of the Incorpora program of the “la Caixa” Foundation, this professional positively values the work of this program at the level of company awareness: “It is necessary that these projects exist that allow the needs of companies to fit with the capabilities of young people and that accompany this process” so that it is a success for both parties. “The world of work trains and makes more solid some habits that we work with young people.”nes with mental health problems.
The Incorpora program of the ”la Caixa” Foundation has already served 5,300 people with mental health problems in 2024 and has achieved nearly 2,000 socio-labor insertions in 1,200 companies from all over Spain. From the network of social entities that collaborate with the program, the needs of each company are analyzed and a tailored plan is designed that includes advice and support in incorporation into the job, adaptation and subsequent maintenance.