On February 20, the Galician School of Public Health hosted a training session on the Building Health program, a program designed to be implemented during the first years of Secondary Education. The session was delivered by Xosé Antón Gómez Fraguela and Estrella Romero Triñanes, members of the UNDERISK research group, and was attended by 12 prevention specialists from different organizations and municipalities across Galicia.
This activity is part of the grants awarded by the Regional Ministry of Health to support the development of local projects aimed at preventing addictive behaviors. The main objective of the session was to equip participating professionals with the skills needed to implement the Building Health program with fidelity. To this end, attendees received an in‑depth overview of the program’s activities, the recommended group dynamics, and the procedures for training secondary school teachers in the centers where the program will be deployed. The session also addressed coordination processes, implementation steps, and evaluation strategies for the interventions.
This initiative is framed within a broader collaboration between the Regional Ministry of Health, local councils and entities involved in addiction‑prevention projects, and the University of Santiago de Compostela through the UNDERISK research group.
In recent months, the team has developed a tailored adaptation of the program for Galicia, which includes:
- an updated Galician‑language version,
- a reorganization of the contents, reducing the number of sessions in the first year from 17 to 10, and
- the incorporation of renewed and updated activities while preserving the program’s original philosophy.
Work is also underway to create a dedicated online platform to support collaboration among all participants in the initiative. This new digital space will allow users to:
- access the materials of the updated program,
- use a variety of tools for evaluating interventions,
- find additional resources related to the session contents, and
- strengthen collaboration among all actors involved.
