“Choose to take care of yourself with love” is the name of the project designed by the Primary Care Team of La Garriga (EAP) to promote self-esteem and healthy lifestyles among students in sixth grade classrooms.
Throughout the three sessions that make up the program, the EAP’s emotional health resource and nutritionist address the key aspects of preventing body dissatisfaction. Among other things, they worked to develop a critical awareness with the canons of beauty transmitted in the media or social networks, aesthetic violence or the promotion of self-esteem, among others.
The program was offered to all sixth grade students in the municipalities of La Garriga, Lamitla del Valles and Digiofreda. In total, eight schools participated.
The need to develop this project was born at the heart of the meetings of the Young Health Movement Group in Garriga. Apart from the EAP, representatives of the city council, assets and community associations are also part of this working group. The goal was to provide tools for teens, since low self-esteem and not feeling good about yourself can lead to eating disorders or emotional discomfort, to name a few.
Works for families too
There are a wide range of symptoms and behaviors related to eating and body perception, and it is important to know how to recognize them because they serve as a warning against potential eating disorders. This is why the program includes a training workshop in each municipality for the families of these students.
The tools and strategies presented in these training meetings should serve them to discover and know how to act in the face of abnormal situations and to accompany young people to develop critical thinking skills and enhance their self-esteem beyond their physical appearance.
What are TCAs?
Eating disorders (ED) are psychological illnesses associated with an individual’s distorted perception of their body leading to dissatisfaction and excessive anxiety about it. Some of these disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and others.
It mostly affects teenagers and is currently one of the major mental health problems in young people. The development of puberty means physical, hormonal, and psychological changes that facilitate excessive concern for image and body. In addition, early puberty and its relationship to prepubertal obesity carry greater risks.
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