Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Senior Manager Ms. Eri Yoshimura gave a lecture titled, “Provide Mental Health Education in Japan’s Schools.” The lecture was given as part of the Future of Physical Education Co-creation Summit 2022 hosted by the Project for Envisioning the Future of Physical Education. The goal of this summit is to create the physical education of the future by gathering parties like school physical education instructors, people in the field of athletics, children, guardians, companies, NPOs, the Government, and welfare and healthcare professionals for multi-stakeholder discussions.

During the lecture, Ms. Yoshimura discussed various topics including mental health-related issues faced by children in Japan, HGPI’s proposal presented in 2020 called “Mental Health 2020 – Proposal for Tomorrow: Five Perspectives on Mental Health Policy,” HGPI’s activities for the current fiscal year, and a research initiative on educational interventions for mental health in educational settings targeting elementary and middle school students. After the lecture, an opinion exchange session was held with participants, who were mostly teachers. Topics examined included issues and needs in real-world educational settings and ways to bridge the gaps between policy and reality.