Let's CEE!
For young people’s mental health and resilience in
Central and Eastern Europe
Why youth, why CEE?
Central and Eastern Europe is an emerging region with talented, multilingual young people with innovative ideas.Promoting wellbeing and preventing mental ill health ensures that all young people - and eventually all adults - thrive.Our region shares strong cultural and historical ties. It's hightime we leverage this connectedness to help improve mental health services for our youth.
We believe...
...that locally developed service models have the best chance to serve the needs of their beneficiaries.This is why we are creating a network of youth mental health hubs offering integrated and stepped mental health services to children, adolescents and young adults.We emphasise preventive care and social determinants of mental health.
We therefore work on...
Service development
We plan to develop a youth mental health service model that can be embedded into existing infrastructure in different CEE countries. We also aim to develop mental health prevention and promotion programmes that address local needs.
Advocacy
Without the early engagement of policymakers no change can happen on the level of health systems.This is why we advocate for investment into mental health in CEE settings and advise on effective policy for implementation.We are working on training opportunities to youth in our region to learn advocacy skills.
Research
We conduct research on the local understandings of and experiences with mental health and existing services.We envision putting CEE-based research and researchers on the global map of mental health science.
About our values
CEE-wide collaboration
We know that there is strength in our shared social and historical experiences. Through Let's CEE! we aim to offer time, space and capacity for everyone interested or working in youth mental health to come together.Working bottom up
We firmly believe that mental health can only really be improved when systems and interventions are developed based on local knowledge, with local talent, and with local resources.
The Let's CEE Team
Our network consists of young people with and without experiences of mental ill health, youth advocates, and early career and senior professionals supporting young people across the health care, social welfare and education sectors.Our members currently come from Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Serbia - and we welcome any members from any CEE settings!
Snapshots to life with Let's CEE!
Our research
We conducted a scoping review of existing mental health prevention and promotion initiatives across CEE - through the World Health Organization's European Office's Youth Researcher Forum. We are currently working on a manuscript summarising the results.Led by Rita Adamik, we have also conducted consultations with youth from across our region about their experiences with mental health prevention. Check the results of this exercise below.