SOCIETY

Rationale and need: The development of social and emotional competencies from the early years of life is associated with children’s mental well-being, the quality of their relationships, and their adaptability. However, the ability to recognise, understand, express, and regulate emotions is not developed through verbal guidance alone. Children need repeated experiential learning opportunities, safe relationships, active participation, and connections with their everyday lives. The performing and visual arts -including theatre, music, movement, dance, and visual arts-offer children different ways to explore, symbolise, and express their emotional experiences. Within this framework, emotional education can contribute to the promotion of mental well-being and the prevention of future difficulties, without replacing psychotherapy or other mental health services.The practice. The Synaisthimatizein Method is a structured emotional education framework delivered through individual and group programmes for children and families. It combines psychoeducational objectives with experiential media, including play, storytelling, music, movement, theatre, visual arts and parent-child connection activities. Each programme is adapted to children's age and developmental needs and follows defined objectives, session structures, educational materials and post-implementation reflection.

Implementation: Implementation is carried out through an interdisciplinary approach by trained educators, drama educators, musicians, and mental health professionals, working within a shared framework of principles, internal training, supervision, and feedback processes. It includes ongoing emotional education programmes, parent–child activities, parent counselling and psychoeducation, as well as selected open community initiatives.

Distinctive features: Innovation lies not in the use of any single art form, but in the systematic integration of developmental objectives, psychoeducation, creative media and active family involvement within one coherent and replicable framework. The method is distinct from both general creative recreation and clinical intervention: it is educational and preventive, maintains clear referral boundaries and can be adapted across age groups and local settings.

Scientific responsibility: Content is evidence-informed and revised in light of relevant literature, professional supervision and implementation data. Clinical effectiveness is not claimed in the absence of corresponding research evidence.