Threats to wellness

In today’s society life comes with many stressors. These stressors impact negatively on one’s physical, social and mental health. Good health is the key to successful living. We often identify threats to physical wellness, however, mental and social health are as important as physical health and should be treated with the same amount of urgency.

Our educational institutions have been experiencing a number of social problems through the upsurge of crime and violence that is being perpetrated by students, with a high percentage of these students being males.

The Programme for Alternative Student Support (PASS), was introduced over three years ago in response to the concern for students who seemingly challenged the education system and required attention to their social problems. PASS intervention strategies are many and varied. The latest introduced strategy, piloting of the Educating, Assessing and Socialising the Youth (EASY), is designed to assist in re-socialising male students to decrease the instances of anti-social behaviours that are causing concern to school officials thereby making the students more functional in the school environment.

The maladaptive behaviours of these students threaten the social/mental wellness of themselves, their parents, teachers, school administrators and the communities in which they live.

Thus the PASS, through its many intervention strategies, and in particular the EASY programme, is active at work in bringing some stability to social health, which should impact positively on mental wellness. The impact of the dysfunctional behaviours of these students threaten the social wellness of our nation. However, the PASS, through EASY, promises to bring some stability to this significant problem.