SSS 228 How Do We Create Mental Wellness: An International Approach
What contributes to mental and psychological wellness? How do different cultures define mentally well versus mentally ill? What are the individual, family, community, and societal factors that contribute to someone's mental wellness or illness? The recent COVID pandemic has demonstrated how vulnerable individuals are as well as how individuals and communities can bolster health and well-being.
This course will introduce students to how mental health is defined and promoted in different cultures. The focus of the course will be for students to explore how within the Italian culture mental health is promoted across all levels of society and systems. Through visits to community organizations that seek to promote wellness, students will experience the multitude of ways that Italians seek to support individuals, families, and communities. They will also design their own program that will promote mental health within a segment of the population, which could be on an individual or group level, and should be focused on a population that might be particularly vulnerable with regards to mental health, due to their age, experiences of racism/discrimination, an aspect of their identity, or other life circumstances.
Italy specifically does not have mental hospitals within the country, relying instead on community based programs. Students will have opportunities to visit and interact with staff at community-based programs to learn about how they promote mental wellness. Students who major in international studies, psychology, social work, education, sociology, anthropology, history, media and communications, politics, philosophy, and theology, to name a few will find this course addresses their areas of interest.