SCT > Progetti > HEARTS

HEARTS

When

01/01/2024

–

31/12/2025

Where

Spain, Italy, Portugal, France

heartsproject.eu

Thematic scope

MENTAL HEALTH, PREVENTION

Credits

An innovative methodology aimed at improving mental health and educating the public about preventing and responding to trauma.

The project

HEARTS: Higher Education Action Response for Trauma Support is an Erasmus+ project that brings together the Universities of Barcelona, Lisbon, Malta, and Cagliari, the Consortium for Research and Continuing Education of Turin – COREP, and the International Union for Health Promotion and Education to create a novel approach to promoting mental health and preventing and responding to trauma within higher education institutions.

Universities provide the ideal environment to promote a culture of health and well-being among students. The HEARTS project aims to make university spaces safe, inclusive, and informed about trauma-informed approaches, enabling transformation and change within partner institutions and the higher education community.

Emerging from the collaboration among partners and the sharing of best practices, the HEARTS methodology offers strategies for trauma prevention and support, employing a culturally sensitive, digitally engaged, and community-oriented approach based on the Okanagan Charter and the Fundamental Competencies for Health Promotion. Intercultural and interreligious dialogue, community theatre, storytelling, community building, critical heritage studies, culturally sensitive cognitive-behavioral therapy and gamification are amongst the core competencies leveraged by the participating universities to advance health promotion.

The HEARTS methodology has undertaken pilot workshops with students and university staff, which will be synthesized into a handbook on fostering well-being in university environments and documenting best practices (HEARTS Activity Handbook). In addition, guidelines and recommendations (HEARTS Guide) will be produced to assist higher education institutions in enhancing their promotion of mental health through the HEARTS approach.

In conclusion, the partner universities will undertake an awareness campaign to promote mental health and reduce the stigma associated with trauma and grief. The campaign will conclude with a conference to showcase the outcomes of the HEARTS project.

PROJECT STATISTICS

6 partners
4 European countries (Spain, Italy, Portugal, France)
24 months (January 2024 – December 2025)
3 manuals on best practices and guidelines for promoting wellbeing
150 participants in HEARTS pilot workshops
40,000 students and university staff reached

Action

As part of the HEARTS project, the Social Community Theatre Centre is conducting a pilot study to promote mental health among students and staff at the University of Turin.

The HEARTS project workshops aim to foster a safe, stigma-free, and inclusive environment within the university community. They also seek to equip participants to become “health promoters” capable of promoting and supporting initiatives for mental well-being.

The SCT Centre’s intervention at the University of Turin will focus on its Social and Community Theatre workshop, which has proven effective in fostering empowerment, capacity building, and individual and collective well-being.

The HEARTS training program

16-hour SCT workshops for students
8-hour SCT workshops for university staff
8-hour SCT workshops for mixed groups of students and staff

All paths share the objective of active, experiential learning of key elements and strategies to foster individual and collective well-being through Social and Community Theatre and role-playing.

Through HEARTS workshops, we aim to develop skills in promoting well-being and self-care in the following areas:

Growth mindset: considering challenging situations not as fixed, unchangeable conditions over which individuals have no control, but rather as temporary states (alternating with periods of calm) that can be influenced. This involves: self-awareness; structured problem-solving strategies with specific goals and steps; seeking support from significant others or professionals; identifying and exploring well-being practices based on WHO guidelines and shared experiences; creating a personalized help-seeking map through role-playing; and developing strategies for maintaining relationships and resolving conflicts;
Identifying and exploring well-being practices based on WHO guidelines, integrating them with the content that will emerge and be shared by participants;
Help-seeking map: collective and individual construction, through role-playing exercises, of a map of emotional and professional support networks to refer to in times of need;
Strategies for relationship building and conflict resolution.

Partner

Resources

Video

Gallery

Boys and girls during a project meeting, sitting in a semicircle on chairs. In front of them, a boy is presenting projected slides.

Medium shot of a young man presenting slides during the project meeting in Turin.

A girl sits at a table with a computer in front of her while she presents slides that are projected behind her

A woman speaks to the audience during a presentation on Health Promotion Competencies and Application to the HEARTS Project, as indicated by the slide behind her

Photo of a slide projected on the wall that reads "As a professional, I hold no prejudices."

Two female operators are talking during a project meeting.

People attending the meeting in BAC Space, all standing in a circle

A woman distributes postcards to various people attending the meeting

Various people participating in the meeting are moving scattered throughout the space during an exercise.

The people attending the meeting in Spazio BAC are gathered in a circle around a drawing, a set of radial lines, made with masking tape on the floor.

Some of the people attending the meeting look at and choose some postcards placed on a table

Focus on a man's hands as they look at some postcards, each with a post-it note with a comment attached

An SCT operator, kneeling on the ground, is placing objects on an orange sheet, including: a ball, a plant, a white sheet of paper with a pen, a sheet with 112 written on it, a book about creative arts, health, and well-being.

Four women sitting in a circle on chairs.

The people participating in the meeting in Spazio BAC are scattered throughout the space and are moving as if they are stretching.

A woman and a boy during the meeting, facing each other, move their arms sideways, in the same direction like a mirror

Some of the people attending the meeting look at and read cards with images and text placed on long tables in BAC space

Photos of some of the cards with photos and descriptions

Project team at work in BAC space, sitting at horseshoe-shaped tables, with laptops and notebooks in front

Group photo of eight women and one man, in a semicircle, with their hands pointing towards the pot with the plant in the middle of them, resting on a small black cabinet.

Group photo of the project team (nine women and one man)

Related Shows

Nessuno spettacolo trovato.

Related Courses

Nessun corso trovato.

Other projects in the same category

Health

CU.BE

A cultural welfare project promoting youth protagonism through active cultural participation.

Health

SPES Program

Supporting and preventing experiences of suicidality, recognizing the psychological distress of adolescents in alliance with teachers.

Health

Connessioni

An online digital creativity workshop for over 60s, to stimulate imagination, express emotions and imagine the future.

Health

Caring 2020

The difficulties of nursing in the age of Covid.

Health

CareStories

Cultural walks and workshops designed to bolster positive resources and resilience among those most affected by Covid isolation, fostering a culture of wellbeing.

Health

Albergo della Luce

Coexistence with disability and illness, support for families and caregivers, awareness of inclusion, the ability to create community: these are the values upheld by the Albergo della Luce.

Health

Sopra 60

A group of women in a Social and Community Theater program to discover the meaning of their age, investigating the need to redefine themselves or perhaps not define themselves at all.

Health

Co-Health

A research-action project to enhance the skills of healthcare personnel in managing relationships with patients and relatives.

Health

Come mi senti?

A project aimed at young people, healthcare personnel, and citizens, to address discrimination in healthcare settings and in the care relationship.

Health

Lo splendore delle età

A project to promote the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of elderly people receiving care.

HEARTS Project: workshops concluded, work begins on creating the guide for universities

Towards a more inclusive university: workshops results become guide The workshops of the HEARTS project, an initiative dedicated to promoting

The HEARTS project website is online

A website to learn about the European project and initiatives for students and teaching staff. The Erasmus+ HEARTS project website

Twenty years of growth, history and emotions in a single volume. Discover the Centro SCT Photobook.

SCT Centre consists of

We conduct planning, research and evaluation, developing performing arts events and workshops that promote cultural and social participation through the Social Community Theatre methodology.

Contact Us

REGISTERED OFFICE

c/o Teatro Popolare Europe Ets

via Senta, 2

10080 Alpette (To)

OPERATIONAL OFFICE

c/o Spazio BAC

via Cottolengo, 24 bis

10152 Torino

sctcentre@socialcommunitytheatre.com

Quick Links

Stay updated!

Want to know more about upcoming projects and events? Subscribe to our newsletter.

The site was financed by the European Union under the NGEU – Next Generation EU project through funds allocated to the PNRR – National Recovery and Resilience Plan and managed by the Ministry of Culture.