On 3rd of April, the multiplier event of the European project ARTY-Digital art terapy for youth developing or existing mental health conditions – funded by the Erasmus+ programme, was held in Modena (Italy). The event was held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Lega Coop in Modena.

After an initial welcoming moment, the art therapist Samia Ibrahim took the floor and gave an introduction on the art therapy panorama, defining its fields of application and benefits. Afterwards, Dr. Maria Corvese, head of the UO Adolescent Center and psychology service, and Dr. Roberta Valentini, head of the U.O.S. Prevention Youth Area of Ausl of Modena, took part in the seminar with a speech entitled “Snapshots of psychological health: the adolescents planet after the pandemic”, illustrating data on the extent to which the pandemic has impacted on the psychological health of adolescents and what interventions the Modena public health service is implementing to deal with this emergency.

Precisely on the strand of interventions that can be implemented to promote the psychological health and well-being of adolescents, which has been so much impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic period, the results of the ARTY project were presented. Specifically, the professional educator Laura Masha Micheli and the psychologist Rebecca Vellani, who represented the Italian partner in the project on behalf of the NGO Anziani e non solo, presented a general overview of the project, the guide, the training tools and the toolkit.

Then psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. Katia Provantini from the social cooperative Il Minotauro made a speech entitled ‘Supporting adolescents at risk of social withdrawal’.

The event was closed with the presentation of the European project DART OUT on the implementation of digital art therapy in the field of addiction. The Italian partner in this project is the CEIS group of Modena and Dr. Krzysztof Szadejko and Francesca Iacoviello gave their testimonies.