One mental health program of Zugló Health Promotion: Self-esteem training

Abstract

Since its establishment in 2018 autumn, the main scope of activities of Zugló Health Promotion Office includes prevention and health promotion among the residents especially supporting and maintaining their mental health. The aim of the current article is to demonstrate one of our most successful program: an online training series with 4 sessions targeting the self-esteem aspect of mental well-being. The main objective of our program was preventing depression and suicide through enhancing self-esteem considering that patients living with depression tend to have lower levels of self-esteem while the feelings of shame, guilt and worthlessness are more prominent. Previously, we found that our clients were particularly interested in our mental health services, which began to increase even more during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why we launched this online training in 2021. The success of the program is already shown by the fact that we were faced with multiple over-subscriptions when the training was announced. Due to the great interest we raised the basic number limit (14 participants) and started two groups. The first training included 19 participants while the second one consisted of 12. At the end of the training, regarding the feedbacks of the participants, they were able to recognize their obstacles and difficulties in relation to the subject of self-esteem. It is important to mention that, on the one hand, it is difficult to measure the variables related to the development of the participants in the trainings, on the other hand, it is not necessarily expedient, and thirdly, due to the lack of capacities, we cannot examine them. In this case, we were able to measure the general satisfaction of the participants. At the end of the training, the group members reported feelings of trust, support and connectedness within the group and overall satisfaction with the setup and quality of the program. Due to the complexity of the topic its unfolding appears on different levels: it can induce one to reflect on their family past, schemas and messages from their upbringing. We aspire the program fulfils its purpose in helping patients set on the road towards recognition.