Keyword: program

Promoting positive mental health with the program Passeport: S’équiper pour la vie (Passport: Skills for life)

Developed by a multidisciplinary team under the supervision of Professor Brian Mishara from the Université du Québec à Montréal and funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the mental health promotion program Passeport: S’équiper pour la vie (Passport: Skills for life) promotes children’s emotional well-being. More specifically, it encourages children to identify and assess coping strategies themselves in order to deal with new situations and everyday challenges. Studies show that early development of coping skills helps the child overcome challenges encountered during adolescence and adulthood

Evolution of policies

Until the 1960s, the majority of mental health problems were treated in mental hospitals. Operating essentially as a daycare service, they often took in several thousand “patients”, and offered very little in structured treatments. However, things changed very quickly as a result of several factors: the introduction of antipsychotics, the development of medical specialization programs in psychiatry and, above all, patients’ criticisms regarding their living conditions in these hospitals.

Promotion and prevention programs

Several mental health problems begin at an early age, influencing mental health throughout adulthood. Many experts working in mental health prevention and promotion maintain that school is the best place to implement programs promoting mental health. It is a place where children spend a considerable amount of time, making it easy to reach all children, including those living in vulnerable conditions.