Emotional Health Week, the 5th edition

Emotional Health Week is a national event dedicated to teachers and students, aiming to promote well-being in the school environment. Organized annually, the initiative will reach its fifth edition in 2025.

Through its established objectives and each year’s chosen theme, the program seeks to raise awareness about the importance of emotional health in schools. Throughout the week, each day is dedicated to a specific topic, addressed through activities that are accessible to all teachers and students. The event provides educational resources, including daily challenges, articles, and many other tools designed to encourage the implementation of best practices in schools.

Having reached every county in the country, the program has involved 5,700 teachers and over 142,000 students over its editions, taking place in kindergartens, schools, and high schools in both rural and urban areas.

Alignment with Global Initiatives of the World Health Organization

In 2025, Emotional Health Week will also align with the 8th UN Global Road Safety Week, organized by the World Health Organization. This global campaign calls for action to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists and, in Romania, presents an opportunity to discuss children’s safety on their way to school, as well as the importance of infrastructure, education, and empathy in preventing accidents.

As such, this year’s Emotional Health Week addresses topics related to traffic safety, the creation of safer spaces for everyone, and the connection between emotional well-being and the feeling of safety during the daily journey to school. In addition, the 2025 edition will also align with European Public Health Week (EUPHW), centered around the theme “Innovation for Resilience: Shaping a Sustainable Future.” The focus will thus be placed on emotional safety in schools and on creating an educational environment that supports children’s resilience and sustainable development.

In 2025, We’re Talking About: Emotional Safety and Road Safety
Motto: “Education Comes First!”

Emotional Health Week will take place between May 12–18, 2025, in partnership with Safe Roads to School, an initiative funded by the FIA Foundation (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) and carried out under the auspices of the Community for Safety Cluj program. The project is coordinated by the White Cross Foundation and benefits from the support of several prestigious institutions, including the Department of Public Health at Babeș-Bolyai University, the City Hall of Cluj-Napoca, the Cluj County Police Inspectorate, the Cluj County School Inspectorate, and InIm Institute.

Emotional Health Week 2025 aims to create a safe and harmonious environment for both students and teachers, emphasizing emotional safety and road safety. This year’s themes reflect the importance of a balanced approach to well-being, where emotional state influences each child’s and adolescent’s safety and health, and vice versa.

Emotional safety is the foundation of the learning process, giving students the confidence they need to express themselves, collaborate, and cope with daily challenges. An environment where they feel supported and respected helps them manage their emotions better, build healthy relationships, and stay more engaged in school activities. Through the week’s activities, teachers and students will have the opportunity to explore and implement practices that strengthen the classroom climate, fostering empathy, trust, and belonging.

Continuing this approach, safety goes beyond the emotional realm to include road safety, a key element in students’ lives. Through the partnership with the Safe Roads to School project, under the Community for Safety Cluj umbrella and funded by the FIA Foundation, the program aims to raise awareness among children and teachers about practical ways to travel safely to and from school. Students will learn basic traffic rules, explore the impact of responsible behavior in traffic, and participate in interactive activities designed to help them recognize risks and develop safe habits.

Through all these components, Emotional Health Week 2025 becomes a comprehensive framework for learning and reflection, offering both students and teachers the tools needed to build a safe, healthy, and balanced environment, both emotionally and physically.

Proposed Activities in 2025

The Emotional Health Week program is a national educational project dedicated to promoting safety and emotional well-being among students and teachers. It takes place over the course of a specially designated week. Each day of the week is assigned a specific activity that integrates themes of road safety and emotional security, emphasizing the importance of keeping students and those around them safe. The program includes a series of interactive activities designed to enrich the school experience while promoting a safe and empathetic learning environment.

1. Monday – Green Day for Safety
The day begins with the symbol of road safety: the color green. The focus is on discussions about how emotional and road safety influence our well-being. Participants are encouraged to wear green, symbolizing safety and priority, and to create a “care corner” – a space dedicated to reflecting on the feeling of being safe. Students and teachers will discuss how road safety affects their daily lives and its emotional impact on relationships and personal feelings. Discussions will revolve around the question: “How does road safety and the way we feel on our way to school influence our emotional well-being?”

2. Tuesday – Words That Keep Us Safe Day
This day emphasizes the power of words and gestures in creating a climate of emotional safety. Participants are encouraged to compile a list of words and expressions that reflect safety, both in traffic and interpersonal relationships. Example phrases may include: “Let’s take care of each other, every step of the way,” “We’ll go at your pace – there’s no rush,” or “I want you to know you’re safe with me.” This can become a creative group exercise in which students generate their own phrases inspired by personal experiences.

3. Wednesday – Map Day
On this day, students explore their “pathway map” – both the literal journey from home to school and the metaphorical path of intentions and goals. The main activity involves drawing a day in which they feel safe, illustrating places and people that bring them comfort and joy, as well as the moments that influence their well-being throughout the day. This activity emphasizes the importance of setting intentions and having a clearly defined life path.

4. Thursday – Signs That Protect Us Day
Signs are unavoidable, both in traffic and in human relationships. On this day, students will learn how traffic signs can prevent accidents and how gestures and words can prevent conflicts. Students will create personalized traffic signs that combine traffic rules with emotional health advice, such as: “Stop – check if you feel okay” or “Yield – listen to the person next to you.” The activity promotes responsible and empathetic behavior both in traffic and in everyday interactions.

5. Friday – Step-by-Step in Safety Day
The final day of the week emphasizes the importance of mutual support and collaboration. Participants are encouraged to pair up and complete a course together, where one partner is blindfolded and the other acts as a guide. After a few minutes, they switch roles. At the end, students reflect on how they felt working together and how it would have been to complete the path alone. The activity highlights the value of support and trust in others to overcome obstacles.

Contest: The Safety Around the School Map

As part of Emotional Health Week, we are launching a road safety contest where students will explore the area surrounding their school to create a real-life map, aimed at identifying both safe and hazardous zones. This is an opportunity to learn more about safety on the roads we travel every day, and to actively contribute to creating a safer environment for all students.

Activity:
Work in teams to create a large-scale, real map of your school’s surroundings (e.g., printed, drawn, or projected on a physical surface large enough to be easily completed and analyzed).
Mark the map using colors and symbols to indicate safe areas, dangerous zones, and other points of interest. Use the following legend to highlight these areas:

• Green: Completely safe area
  
• Yellow: Poorly lit area
  
• Red: Area with speeding vehicles / cars that do not stop at pedestrian crossings
  
• Purple: Area in need of a pedestrian crossing
  
• Blue: Area with a sidewalk that is too narrow
  
• Black: Other type of unsafe area (specify what makes it unsafe)

Make sure the map accurately reflects the reality around your school and the daily routes students take.

Judging Criteria: Accuracy of information; Clarity and creativity of presentation; Practical usefulness of the map for improving road safety; Originality of the approach

Prizes: First Prize: 2,000 lei;  Second Prize: 1,000 lei; Third Prize: 500 lei

Participation Rules:

• The teacher must complete the registration form between May 12–18: https://shorturl.at/4MbV9
• Students, under the teacher’s guidance, will create the safety map between May 12–18.
  
• The teacher will write a motivation statement explaining how the prize will be used to support safety around the school.
  
• The teacher will submit clear and visible photos of the map, a video showing the activity (including the map-making process and explanations), and a document detailing the activity (including the school’s name and address, and the coordinating teacher’s name) by May 18 to the email address: office@iniminstitute.com

Winners will be announced on June 1. Good luck to everyone!

Last Edition of “Emotional Health Week”, 2024

In 2024, over 1,097 teachers registered for Emotional Health Week, and 187 of them also participated in the “Belonging Board” contest together with nearly 5,000 students. The impact analysis of the program included 2,458 students from all levels of education and evaluated five essential aspects of emotional health: support, participation, respect and discipline, trust in a safe environment, and a positive climate.

The results showed a significant increase in all these areas, demonstrating a positive impact on students’ well-being and classroom relationships. Teachers reported improvements in student collaboration, active involvement, and the overall school atmosphere, confirming the program’s effectiveness.

Among students, results showed:

• Increased collaboration and mutual support among classmates
• Improved respect and discipline in the classroom
• Creation of a school environment where students feel safe and comfortable
• Higher levels of active participation in class and engagement in activities
• Development of values such as empathy, gratitude, and friendship

Among teachers, results showed:

• Greater confidence in maintaining a safe and positive environment
• Observation of an improved classroom climate with more engaged and motivated students
• 92.4% of teachers considered the program highly effective in encouraging students’ active participation

More information about the analysis is available here: https://en.iniminstitute.com/emotional-health-week/