DNA-V – A CONTEXTUAL APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH AS A BENCHMARK FOR EVIDENCE-BASED PSYCHOLOGICAL EDUCATION AT SCHOOL

Abstract

The article attempts at outlining the development of the holistic approach to the mental health of children and adolescents worldwide and contextualises it with the Polish background. Accordingly, it provides examples of actions undertaken in the Polish educational policy to introduce a holistic approach to the mental health of children and adolescents through various education, care, prevention and wellness-oriented programmes which have been established and conducted within the last two decades. Moreover, the article attempts to explain how context-focused and evidence-based mental health approaches, such as mindfulness, positive psychology, development of psychological flexibility, can be used as an alternative to content-focused actions that have been taken worldwide so far. In the paper, a developmental-contextual behavioural model called DNA-V is used to refer to a concrete example of how psychological education could integrate evidence-informed interventions into a social and individual context, as well as to promote the healthy transition from puberty to adulthood.