We implement preventive psychosocial
interventions in a school setting to
promote adolescents’ mental and social
well-being.
RefugeesWellSchool is a European funded Horizon2020 project carried out by seven different partners in six European countries (Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the United Kingdom).
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In-service teacher training
The aim of the INSETT intervention is to enhance teachers’ insight into how refugee /migration experiences may impact young people’s psychosocial well-being and school functioning upon resettlement in a new country (Brenner & Kia-Keating, 2016; Pastoor, 2015, 2017).
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Welcome To School
This intervention builds on the Welcome to School initiative developed by the Pharos Refugees and Health Knowledge Centre (the Netherlands), with support from the European Refugee Fund. Rooted in the theoretical principles of social capital, the Welcome to School Initiative seeks to strengthen the competencies of refugee and migrant youth with regards to self-esteem, coping, social skills and behavioral adjustment.
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Classroom Drama intervention
In a nine-week drama workshop intervention program, refugee and migrant adolescents in multi-ethnic schools work around the construction of group stories that support the construction of identity and meaning, aiming to establish bridges between past and present and to engage with themes of migration, exclusion, pluriform identities and cultural adaptation in host societies.
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Teaching Recovery Techniques + In-service Teacher Training
Teaching Recovery Techniques is a manualized intervention developed by the Children and War foundation (Yule, Dyregrov, Raundalen, & Smith, 2013). TRT is based on trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and includes seven sessions for young people and two for the caregivers. For children, session one is about getting to know each other and session seven a follow-up.
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PIER intervention
The intervention ‘Peer Integration and Enhacement Resource’ (PIER) develops a participatory approach to supporting safe, positive peer interactions and social relationships in multi-ethnic schools. Through clustering pupils with migrant and non-migrant background in small collaborative groups working together on establishing social connection and participatory activities in the school context, the intervention aims at strengthening school belonging and promoting dialogue between minority and majority groups.
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Team
Meet the team-
Reeta Kankaanpää
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Riina Lepistö
Read the News
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News
Speaker announcement!
We are delighted to announce that prof. Mina Fazel will be one of the keynote speakers at our RWS webinar. She will talk about “Reflections on belonging: The role of schools in refugee health” on 21st March 2022. We cannot wait! REGISTER NOW Find out more about the RWS webinar & workshops.
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Publications
Manuals
RWS developed, implemented and evaluated five preventive, school-based interventions to promote the mental health of migrant and refugee youth in secondary schools in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. Every intervention had a manual to support and guide the work of those who wished to implement these programmes. We are thankful to the […]
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Publications
Newsletters
RefugeesWellSchool publishes biannual newsletters where you can read about the latest developments of the project. We announce events, resources, publications and many more there. You can subscribe to our newsletter here. You can also access the newsletters in the following links: Newsletter 3 Newsletter 2 Newsletter 1
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Publications
Effectiveness Report
We are very glad to share with you the RefugeesWellSchool report: Findings on how school-based interventions promote migrant and refugee adolescents’ well-being. The report shows the main findings of the RWS cross-national study that implemented five school-based preventive interventions – Welcome to School (WTS), Classroom Drama Workshops (CDW), Peer Integration and Enhancement Resource (PIER), In-Service […]
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News
RWS continues to present at scientific conferences
Scientific collaboration and knowledge sharing is important for the RWS project. This is why RWS researchers make continuous efforts to speak about the RWS study at international and local scientific conferences, seminars and workshops. Caroline Spaas ( KU Leuven) and colleagues presented findings about the mental health profiles of young refugees and migrants at the […]
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Publications
Implementation Protocols
RWS developed, implemented and evaluated five preventive, school-based interventions to promote the mental health of migrant and refugee youth in secondary schools in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. For each intervention, RWS researchers developed an implementation protocol that took into account the contextual features of the RWS study, as well as the […]