Welcome to the Congress
DEAR CONGRESS PARTICIPANTS!
Health and potential of the younger generation serve as a "social development indicator" of any society. How healthy are our children and teenagers, what do they aspire for, what do they dream about, what goals do they set, do they adequately react to what is happening around? They psychological resistance of a younger generation depends on the feeling of safety, security and confidence in the present and the future, which should be maintained and cultivated in the environment where the child is brought up. Of course, first of all, we are talking about the family, but one can not underestimate the influence of the kindergarten, school, higher educational institutions, leisure centers, entertainment industry, etc.
A child’s mental health is due, on the one hand to the basic "settings" inherited by man from nature and the parents, and on the other hand, to the desire for humanistic values, the revealing of creative potential, the realization of man as a unique individual. There is no doubt that the mental health of our children is one of the criteria for the health of the nation as a whole, a major foundation for the future. The pace of life in today's world is accelerating, the everlasting values are being questioned, the value of the basic social institutions is being leveled under the influence of global processes, uncontrolled information flows and technical progress. All these stressors have a significant pressure on the adult population and constantly "check on the strength" of the psyche of children and adolescents, who are much more vulnerable and susceptible to external influences than adults. Therefore it is our task as that of professionals in various fields - from medicine to pedagogy, from economics to sociology, from government to scientific expertise - to pay particular attention to the younger generation on the scope of the upcoming Congress on Mental Health: Meeting the needs of the XXI Century. The effectiveness and coherence of this interdisciplinary work will largely determine the present and the future of the young generation.
Veniamin Sh. Kaganov
Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federatio
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