VITALity for the Future project promotes a more positive approach to the health challenges of today and of the future

Europe is in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Apart from all the official bulletins there is a tsunami of reports, ideas and suggestions to beat this disease individually. Many of these commonly suggest medication and/or supplements as a way of protecting ourselves. And this fits into a tendency in our societies to “medicate” our individual health and well-being. For everything, it appears, there is a pill or a treatment that will conveniently take away our personal responsibility but perhaps only to create a dependency. At the same time, our healthcare systems face spiralling costs and staff shortages and struggle to cope with an ever-ageing population.

The ERASMUS+ project VITALity for the Future promotes an entirely different and a much more positive approach to the health challenges of today and of the future. Personal health and well-being should be taken out of the medical realm and given back to the individual. Working from a more desirable perspective and based on vitality and the concept of positive health, this project aims to change the way people are treated and how they view and look after themselves. Positive health and vitality encompass more than a person’s physical well-being: this approach also embraces mental well-being, nutrition, exercise and leisure. Vitality focuses on what you can do, not on what you should not do, and how best you can balance your life.

VITALity is a KA202 project that started in Autumn 2020 and will run for 28 months. The project partners are a mix of VET providers, health experts and providers, community organisations and local authorities from Romania, Finland, Portugal, Austria, The Netherlands, and the UK. ROC Midden Nederland is the promoter.

The main objectives of the project are to:

• Integrate vitality and positive health into the vocational education and training of all vitality related sectors such as health care, social care, sport, and beauty for both initial and continuous VET by developing a specific learning module.
• Include vitality and positive health learning into citizenship education for all students in VET so that they can benefit from this approach throughout their lives. New learning materials will be developed for this purpose.
• Support teachers and trainers by developing support materials and a training course.

By focusing on both students engaged in vitality related qualifications and on VET students as a whole this project expects to create a lasting impact on how all citizens can be supported to develop a healthy lifestyle and on how we can influence our own behaviour in a positive and lasting manner. So, when we have to face the next pandemic, or another similar challenge, we are able to look beyond a pill or supplement.

For more information, please contact Norbert Ruepert (n.ruepert@rocmn.nl). The website www.vitalityforthefuture.eu will be online soon.