„PRZYJACIELE ZIPPIEGO” – PROGRAM PROMOCJI ZDROWIA PSYCHICZNEGO POLECANY ZDROWIA PSYCHICZNEGO POLECANY
“ZIPPY’S FRIENDS” – A PROGRAMME RECOMMENDED BY THE WHO AND THE WFMH

Summary/Abstract: The World Health Organization provides leadership on global health matters not only related to disease prevention but also concentrates on promoting mental health and emotional wellbeing. In cooperation with the World Federation for Mental Health, it organised research on programmes that promote mental health. From 59 programme descriptions received from 20 countries, 35 were judged suitable for global use, in part due to their minimal reference to anything related to cultural issues. The WHO and WFMH published them in 2004 in Mental Health Promotion, Case Studies from Countries. (Saxena, Garrison 2004), One of these originating in Great Brittan was called “Zippy’s Friends”. It is worth further investigation for two reasons: firstly it was developed for a limited age group – children from 5 to 7 years of age, secondly – it became very popular in Polish schools and preschools. The programme was initiated by Befrienders International, an organisation developed to help prevent suicides. The main idea was to create a scheme of work which teaches very young children how to cope with difficulties and to enable them to handle problems from the very early years. This is intended to prevent feelings of uselessness and weakness in order to help them deal with crises in adult life without resorting to suicide. The project was financially supported by GlaxoSmithKline and specialists from Canada, Denmark, and Austria provided help in research and development of the programme. The first version was created in 1998 and tested in Denmark and Lithuania. In 2002 an organisation called Partnership for Children was created to promote the “Zippy’s Friends” programme and provide training and advice to teachers who were interested in it. Currently it is used in Brazil, Canada, China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Denmark, England, Iceland, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Singapore and the USA. The programme is divided into 6 modules of 4 sessions entitled: Feelings, Communication, Making and breaking relationships, Conflict resolution, Dealing with change and loss and We cope which deal with issues like: friendship, social skills, loneliness, bullying, change and loss, and making a new start. They are based on 6 stories about a stick insect called Zippy and his group of friends who just started school. Teachers who run the programme are provided with a set of pictures for each story, a syllabus for each session with detailed descriptions of activities, a booklet with important suggestions and information, a poster of Zippy and his friends, a poster with the rules to follow during sessions and a leaflet for parents, containing basic information about the programme. During sessions children are not taught what to do but learn how to explore a situation to find the best solution to the problem. They are encouraged to make social contact, helping and asking for help and expressing their own feelings. They discover the importance of t

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