Adolescents’ mental health is now an increasingly urgent and widely recognised priority. For years, institutions, researchers and experts around the world have been working to understand and support it in practical ways. Emotional distress, which can sometimes manifest itself through violent behaviour, is never an isolated problem: it is a signal, a message coming directly from the younger generation.
International studies and reports confirm that the psychological well-being of the younger generation is currently under severe strain due to a variety of factors: uncertainty about the future, academic and social pressures, digital transformation, and the impact of global events such as wars and the climate crisis.
According to the WHO’s 2025 report, “Child and Youth Mental Health in the WHO European Region: Status and Actions to Improve Quality of Care”, one in seven children and adolescents (aged 0–19) in the European Region lives with a mental health condition, an increase of around a third over the last fifteen years.
Beyond the figures, mental health issues among young people are increasingly becoming a topic of public discussion.
In Italy, a number of news stories have sparked debate about youth distress and its potential social manifestations. In recent months, there has been an increase in reports of violence among very young people, youth gangs, assaults and acts of urban violence, with perpetrators becoming younger and younger. Analyses of trends in juvenile crime in the country indicate not only an increase in the violent nature of offences, but also a gradual lowering of the age at which young people commit their first offence.
In 2024, the number of murders committed by minors in Italy more than doubled compared with the previous year (from 14 to 35), highlighting the growing involvement of the younger generation in incidents of serious violence.
Reducing these phenomena to mere matters of public order or attributing them solely to youth culture, however, risks oversimplifying a far more complex reality. Rather, these are signs pointing to a deep-seated generational malaise: a widespread difficulty in managing emotions, relationships and social pressures at a stage of life that is already delicate in itself. This is a context that calls for active listening, appropriate tools and shared responses, capable of prioritising the well-being and opportunities of the younger generations.
For this reason, EmpowerYOUth focuses on developing tools for emotional intelligence and resilience strategies, creating a curriculum based on scientifically validated approaches, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, which is bringing not only alternative educational activities into the classroom, but above all opportunities for listening and discussion. Such opportunities are still rare within our schools, which are instead increasingly geared towards a vocational and performance-oriented view of education.
Through training and mentoring initiatives, EmpowerYOUth aims to enhance the skills of teachers and those working in the youth sector, thereby fostering the development of an educational ecosystem that is more attentive to the emotional wellbeing of the younger generation.
During the pilot phase of the school workshops, those who took part in the training held in October in Trappeto are now putting the EmpowerYOUth activities into practice directly in the classroom, delivering sessions focused on emotional awareness, stress management and the development of interpersonal skills.
Initial feedback has been very positive: participation has been active and engaged, demonstrating just how important it is to create safe spaces for dialogue and discussion about emotions, relationships and psychological well-being.
Next, parents will be involved in the EmpowerYOUth initiatives.
Would you like to find out more about EmpowerYOUth’s progress? Follow us on our Facebook page or contact Salvatore Duminuco: salvatore.duminuco@danilodolci.org.
EmpowerYOUth: Enhancing Youth Mental Wellbeing is a project funded by the Erasmus+ KA220-YOU programme – Cooperation partnerships in youth.
Partners
- Coordinator: Píeta Ísland, Iceland
- NORTH Consulting ehf, Iceland
- Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci – ETS, Italy
- Natsionalna Shkola Pomenidzhmant, Bulgaria
For further information, visit the project’s Facebook page or contact Salvatore Duminuco: salvatore.duminuco@danilodolci.org.