For teachers
Teachers and school counselors bear a great responsibility in fulfilling their duty of care towards the children and adolescents entrusted to them. tomoni mental health would like to encourage and support them in this responsibility. For this reason, we have developed a digital training program together with those affected, scientists and educators: tomoni.schools.
tomoni.schools is an interactive training program especially for teachers and school counselors on the early detection of mental illness in students. The offer can now be booked online throughout Germany.
We have started with an offer for secondary schools, an independent offer for primary school teachers is in preparation.
In the development of tomoni.schools, tomoni was advised by the Scientific Advisory Board, the Educational Advisory Board and the game.changers, a group of committed and partly affected young people. From the fourth quarter of 2023, the offer will be scientifically evaluated by the University Hospital of Würzburg.
Why does tomoni.schools exist?
"The first signs of 75 percent of all mental illnesses already show up during school. With the help of tomoni.schools, teachers are empowered to recognize these and act accordingly," explains Alix Puhl, who founded the non-profit company together with her husband Oliver in June 2022.
tomoni.schools is intended to support teachers and all those working in an advisory capacity at schools in recognizing warning signs of mental illness at an early stage and in being able to provide initial assistance to affected children and young people. The focus is on recognizing the signs of mental illness and dealing appropriately and purposefully with those affected and their environment. Situations from everyday school life are addressed: How do I approach young people about whom I am concerned? How do I react in acute crisis situations? Who do I refer to when I recognize warning signs? How do I involve the parents of affected children and adolescents? Where do I bear responsibility as a teacher and where does it end?
Two groups of lecturers are used to teach tomoni.schools:
- "Experts of Science (EdW)": psychologists interested in prevention before and after completing their studies as well as during and after psychotherapist training;
- "Experts of Everyday Life (EdA)": Individuals with their own experience of mental illness on a stable treatment pathway.
UKW will evaluate the effectiveness of both groups separately.
tomoni.schools for teachers at secondary schools
tomoni.schools for secondary school teachers consists of eight modules, each lasting 90 minutes, and takes place live on Zoom. Beginning with the basics of mental illness, the modules address eating disorder, anxiety disorder, addiction, depression, self-injurious behavior, and suicidality. The module on parental interviewing concludes the program. After attending all eight modules, participants receive a certificate of participation.
tomoni.schools for teachers at elementary schools
A separate training program for teachers at elementary schools is in preparation. Again building on a basic module designed for elementary schools, it will address disorders that occur at elementary school age: oppositional behavior, anxiety and absenteeism, depression and adjustment disorders, and circumscribed developmental disorders. The module concludes with a module on how to talk to parents.
Current status of use and feedback
In the first quarter of 2023, 134 teachers from all types of schools (including students, trainee teachers, members of advisory and school management teams) as well as school social workers and school psychologists have already participated in tomoni.schools.
Teachers appreciate tomoni.schools:
- The program is designed to be interactive.
- The central element of the teaching is the internal view of those affected.
- Exercises, visualizations and role plays are an integral part.
- Participants have the opportunity to ask questions, also about current cases.
- Possibility of cross-school, cross-city and cross-state collegial exchange.
- Content and language are recipient-oriented, and the focus is on practical relevance to the school.
A former participant describes her experience with tomoni.schools: "I am convinced that you are making a difference with tomoni. The inspiration you give us teachers with the trainings, the school of vision and the support you give us with the tips are a huge element. Sometimes, though, it may be the little things. Example: yesterday I was breathing with a student who was having a panic attack. We have a talk appointment on Monday." (S., teacher, advisory team member, secondary school)
Your participation
Continuing education courses take place on an ongoing basis. Our offer is available to all teachers and school counselors as well as students. tomoni.schools starts with the basic module for you. To register once and reserve your participation in the basic module, please click on the date that suits you best. After creating your tomoni.schools account, you will be able to select your dates for the other modules there in the future, also spread over a longer period of time, adapted to your own time planning.
In the phase of preparing the scientific evaluation we can offer tomoni.schools free of charge. After registration, you will receive a voucher code by e-mail, which you use when checking out. The following rebooking and cancellation rules are also valid during the evaluation preparation phase.
Up to 48 hours before the start of a module, rebookings and cancellations are possible for you free of charge. To do so, log in to your tomoni.schools account. Please understand that for cancellations and rebookings after this deadline, we will have to charge EUR 35.00 for the module.
Please send any questions to social@tomonimentalhealth.org.