• Camilla Wasserman, Christina W Hoven, Danuta Wasserman, Vladimir Carli, Marco Sarchiapone, Susana Al-Halabí, Alan Apter, Judit Balazs, Julio Bobes, Doina Cosman, Luca Farkas, Dana Feldman, Gloria Fischer, Nadja Graber, Christian Haring, Dana Cristina Herta, Miriam Iosue, Jean-Pierre Kahn, Helen Keeley, Katja Klug, Jacklyn McCarthy, Alexandra Tubiana-Potiez, Airi Varnik, Peeter Varnik, Janina Ziberna, and Vita Poštuvan.
• Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Columbia University-New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA. wassermc@childpsych.columbia.edu
• Bmc Public Health. 2012 Jan 1; 12: 776.

BackgroundThe Awareness program was designed as a part of the EU-funded Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) intervention study to promote mental health of adolescents in 11 European countries by helping them to develop problem-solving skills and encouraging them to self-recognize the need for help as well as how to help peers in need.MethodsFor this descriptive study all coordinators of the SEYLE Awareness program answered an open-ended evaluation questionnaire at the end of the project implementation. Their answers were synthesized and analyzed and are presented here.ResultsThe results show that the program cultivated peer understanding and support. Adolescents not only learned about mental health by participating in the Awareness program, but the majority of them also greatly enjoyed the experience.ConclusionsRecommendations for enhancing the successes of mental health awareness programs are presented. Help and cooperation from schools, teachers, local politicians and other stakeholders will lead to more efficacious future programs.

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