Taking care of mental health while living in the new normal
By UN News
NEW YORK (IDN)— The United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ms Jayathma Wickramanayake, will host the 9th session of the United Nations’ #CopingWithCOVID webinar series on July 15 (livestream at bit.ly/CwCOVID9).
During this session — focused on young people’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic — the Envoy will be joined by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians and six young people from around the world.
Taking care of mental health while living in the ‘new normal’ will be broadcast live via the Webex Platform on the Envoy on Youth’s YouTube Channel. The session will focus on young people’s experiences and feelings of fear, anxiety, anger, sadness and grief due to the impacts of COVID-19. It will also offer young people the chance to share their experiences and solutions and reimagine what the future of mental health could look like for themselves and their peers.
The #CopingWithCOVID webinar series was created by the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in partnership with the World Health Organization and UNICEF in March this year, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic – which hastened Governments all around the world to respond by enforcing measures such as physical distancing with social connectedness, quarantine and isolation.
Such measures have impacted the lives of many young people, including being away from school, work and friends; adjusting to new ways of learning and working, as well as fear of losing jobs and family income.
The series aims to provide young people with a platform for genuine connection amid uncertainty, as well as the opportunity to share their views with representatives from the highest levels of the United Nations. It also aims to encourage greater mental health awareness among young people and strengthen demand for integrated mental health and psychosocial interventions such as enhanced online counselling and helplines, and more support for the social service workforce.
United Nations strives to become more inclusive organization. To ensure everyone can access this webinar international sign and real time captioning will be provided. [IDN-InDepthNews – 09 July 2020]
Image credit: UN
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