Children and Young People in Non-School Settings

Childhood is a turbulent time of life: There is such a barrage of impressions to deal with in a relatively short period that children have to keep learning every step of the way.  Experiences and events in early childhood substantially shape our behavior as adolescents and as adults. A child has basic needs like the need to play, stimulation, or age-appropriate performance. If these needs are met, a major step has been taken in helping that child to deal with later development and with subsequent challenges.

The same is true of adolescence. Puberty is a time of life that can plunge young people, and their parents, into crisis. Children loosen the ties to their parents and show that they are on their way to developing their own identities. Young people shift their focus increasingly to peers and away from their family. It is a time when a person must come to grips with physical changes, the discovery of sexuality, and his or her place in adult society.

Children and young people in non-school settings are considered by the health promotion field to be a target group which is very hard to reach: They have little knowledge about health and risks and do not respond to many of the initiatives which are launched. The focal point of work with children and young people is to help them to develop into individuals with a sense of personal responsibility and a set of fundamental social skills. In these efforts, it is important to keep in mind a basic insight that has been gained in previous health promotion and prevention activities: Children and adolescents’ acceptance of these programs will be all the greater if the programs are not only geared towards them but also developed with and by them. Fonds Gesundes Österreich pays particular interest to this aspect in the projects it promotes, in its model projects and in dissemination activities for this priority area.