The head of the Area of School Health and Healthy Lifestyles of the Government of the Canary Islands participated in the course on 'Youth and Suicide in the Canary Islands'
“Educational centers have a great role in preventing suicidal behavior. The school represents a powerful link within the great preventive chain, along with other social and health agents,” said Calixto Herrera, head of the School Health and Healthy Lifestyles Area of the Innovation Service of the General Directorate of Planning, Innovation and Quality of the Government of the Canary Islands, which recently received the Order of Civil Merit for its work as a psychopedagogue.
Calixto Herrera participated, this Tuesday, in the 'Youth and Suicide in the Canary Islands' course that is being held at the Maspalomas Summer University, to address strategies for preventing suicidal behavior among young people in the Canary Islands.
In his speech, Calixto Herrera highlighted the “potential that educational centers have in promoting emotional well-being, mental health and life.” He pointed out that suicidal behavior is a complex public health problem, which cannot be limited exclusively to the field of mental health, since, as the World Health Organization (WHO) points out, “suicide is not a disease, nor a symptom of a mental disorder, it is a behavior.” For this reason, Herrera stated that its prevention and treatment require “full attention and a frontal approach.”
Calixto Herrera has been working on the project since 2013. 'Caterpillars and butterflies of colors on the desks of our school', to advise and accompany the educational community in situations of grief and death, “a matter that continues to be a social taboo,” he said.
