Pro Juventa

Our Objectives

Our objectives include supporting education and prevention in child and adolescent psychiatry in Hungary, promoting the development of artistic and creative therapeutic methods, and supporting organisations and events with similar aims. We consider it important to raise public awareness of the importance of prevention and rehabilitation in child and adolescent psychiatry and to increase wider understanding of these issues through the media.

Past, present and future

Our Foundation was established in 1996 by staff of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology. Following the closure of the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, the Foundation continued to organise and sustain a wide range of art and art-therapy activities at several locations. Following its most recent renewal, the Foundation set new objectives in order to continue supporting children and young people experiencing psychiatric difficulties on a broader scale. Ongoing restructuring of the healthcare system, the reduction and very limited number of child psychiatric inpatient departments have made longer-term treatment more difficult within hospital settings, while opportunities for prevention have also become more restricted. In the future, we aim to support children who do not yet require hospital treatment or no longer require it, while also supporting the work of children’s homes and temporary residential facilities where longer-term therapeutic processes can be organised. Through this cooperation, children’s recovery can become faster and more comprehensive. These children are also welcome to attend the group and individual therapies held at MURMO. With prior planning and organisation, volunteers can accompany them to the therapy location. We warmly welcome everyone to our foundation’s programs during the current academic year!

Art salon – Soul and Art

We strongly believe that nobody should have to give up essential therapeutic support simply because they cannot afford it. We cannot and do not want to accept therapy becoming an inaccessible luxury for children and families living with chronic mental health difficulties. Whenever and wherever we can, we campaign to change this. The Art Salon is one expression of that commitment. We organise the Salon three or four times a year. Visiting artists donate their performances in support of the Pro Juventa Foundation for the Mental Health of Young People, and during the second half of the evening we talk with our guests about the relationship between Soul and Art: how creativity and healing, expression and understanding can meet. Our events are open to everyone and are not intended only for MURMO families. We welcome anyone who enjoys arts programmes and would like to support our work, even with a small contribution. Donations are used exclusively for therapeutic work with children and families affected by child psychiatric difficulties and for renewing our art-therapy materials and resources. Our chamber-concert series unfortunately came to a halt during the pandemic. We look forward to its return and hope these evenings can soon be held again in front of a live audience. You can follow our posters, events and photographs from previous occasions on our Facebook page, Lélek és Művészet.

Parent Clubs

With the support of the Pro Juventa Foundation, MURMO regularly organises free thematic Parent Club evenings. We believe that in the difficult moments of parenting, knowledge and community can be just as important a source of support as professional help. Each evening begins with an introduction to a current topic affecting many families, presented by a specialist. This is followed by an open discussion with the parents attending. We reflect together, ask questions and share experiences. The purpose of the club is psychoeducation and prevention: to explain difficulties affecting children and families in accessible everyday language and to present, explore and develop practical strategies that can genuinely be tried in daily life. Over the past ten years, our Parent Club events have reached more than 3,000 families. Feedback shows that these evenings are valuable not only to parents but also to the professionals who take part. The club is a meeting point where clinical knowledge and families' everyday realities come into direct contact.

Previous parent clubs

Methodological demonstration through first-hand experience

With the support of the Pro Juventa Foundation, we regularly organize methodological demonstration sessions where interested parents can learn about a particular therapeutic or developmental method through first-hand experience. Each session introduces a specific approach used at MURMO to support the treatment and development of children with atypical developmental needs. This allows parents not only to hear about the method, but also to try it themselves and experience what it feels like to take part in the therapeutic or developmental process from within. We firmly believe that therapeutic work cannot be fully understood through theoretical explanation alone. When parents personally experience a movement- and rhythm-based exercise, a collaborative creative process or a structured developmental game, they gain a much deeper understanding of why and how the method can help their own child. According to a systematic review examining the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic and psychoeducational support interventions for parents, programs that support parents improve their emotional well-being and coping strategies, which in turn are associated with better academic, behavioral and social outcomes for children. Parent programs that combine emotional and educational support have been shown to benefit both parents and children, while creating an environment that supports the child’s development.

Richter Anna Award-winning team

Our team received the Richter Anna Award in the healthcare professional category. Thanks to the award, we were able to create a podcast series based on topics from the Lotilko Programme's free Parent Clubs, which had by then been running for eight years.

Volunteering

There are opportunities to take part in our work as a volunteer and to become involved in a range of programmes. We particularly welcome applicants who are training to become psychologists, early-years educators, social workers, teachers or youth-support professionals. Our volunteers receive training and professional guidance and have opportunities for continuous development throughout their time with us. During the programme, volunteers can develop a more precise understanding of work with children and families within their own professional field, particularly in education, healthcare and social care. Volunteers can support the Foundation with organisational tasks, grant applications and programme delivery. There are also opportunities to become involved in supporting families, working in children's homes and helping to run summer programmes. Further details are provided in person.

Applying for Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is currently provided through the Pro Juventa Foundation for the Mental Health of Young People, supporting children, adolescents and families receiving care in our complex child psychiatric programmes, including Lotilko, MBT and Konnekt. At present, support takes the form of differentiated fees during the therapeutic phase. Unfortunately, the Foundation is not currently able to subsidise the diagnostic phase. The Foundation's trained volunteers support the clinical team and administration and may also assist with transporting or supervising children, for example while parents attend feedback sessions or consultations.

Who do we support?

Our support programme specifically assists therapeutic work with children who:

• arrive with a child psychiatric diagnosis or receive a diagnosis with us;
• wish to begin a long-term therapeutic process following hospital treatment;
• have had several MURMO specialists involved in their assessment;
• who are under the age of 18,
• come from families for whom therapy fees create a significant financial burden;
• receive multi-level therapeutic support at MURMO.