The Openous Civil Non-Profit Company was founded in 2019 and is the first NGO in Greece aimed at building communities of psychologically resilient children and youth through innovative educational programmes, with proactive actions.
The vision of Openous is an empowered and psychologically resilient society, consisting of people endowed with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to have a better quality of life individually and consequently as a whole.
To the present day, through its actions, mostly in Athens and Thessaloniki, it has trained more than 900 children and provided information and training to approximately 600 parents and educators, regarding issues pertaining to the socio-emotional empowerment of children and youth. It also engages in awareness-raising, research and policy proposals.
The grant pertains to support for the project “Empowerment Academy | Islands”, an innovative initiative designed for secondary school students and teachers residing on islands, and aimed at cultivating life skills and developing the psychological resilience of adolescents, and supporting schools in promoting the wellbeing of their members. The objective of the “Empowerment Academy” programme is the psychosocial empowerment of adolescents living on islands, the development of their psychological resilience and the promotion of their wellbeing, through proactive actions.
The structure and content of the programme develops along two lines: a. Empowering Students – Mental Health Hubs: initially, the students are trained in essential life skills, such as managing stress and emotions, empathy, communication skills and psychological resilience. b. Training for school teachers on issues of mental health and wellbeing: the teachers in each participating school take part in two online workshops, regarding the promotion of wellbeing within their schools, in order to enable them to empower and support their students.
The estimated number of total beneficiaries over the course of the grant is 240 people.
The project is implemented through a grant by the Athina I. Martinou Foundation, as part of the “Points of Support” program, in the area: “Social Innovation in Small Local Seaside Communities”.