The concept of the “school that feels” has been the flagship initiative ofLIV (Life Intelligence Laboratory)since its creation in 2018. Emphasizing the importance of social-emotional learning in strengthening relationships and learning, the program advocates for the creation of spaces for listening in schools, transforming them from mere venues for the transmission of knowledge into a reference point for preparing students for life.

Caio Lo Bianco, director and founder of LIV, and psychoanalyst Vera Iaconelli led a discussion at theBett Brasil 2022Conference that broke new ground by speaking so openly, even about suicide—a topic considered taboo until very recently. The panel “Mental Health and Suicide Prevention: What Is the Role of Schools?” also addressed several other issues that are particularly relevant now that schools are returning to in-person instruction.

According to Caio Lo Bianco, one of the critical issues of adolescence—the lack of dialogue about emotions and feelings—has been exacerbated by the social isolation caused by the pandemic. For this reason, the expert believes it has never been more important to create spaces for speaking and listening in schools to understand possible changes in behavior and how to deal with them. “Not finding a place at school where we can talk about our feelings, where we can recognize ourselves in others, is what ultimately creates a false idea that what we’re going through is ours alone,” explained the director of LIV.

Advances in research in education and psychology show, today, that the relationship between feeling and learning is essential for schools to adapt to the challenges of the 21st century, and that focusing solely on academic content is no longer sufficient to meet parents’ expectations. The World Health Organization (WHO) even warns that failing to address adolescents’ mental health issues can cause harm that may affect even their future career opportunities.

Vera Iaconelli explained that mental health does not mean the absence of suffering. The psychoanalyst also admitted that choosing the path of speaking and listening is the most difficult, but she asserted that it is the only path that allows young people to recognize that the issues they are facing are common to other young people. “Suffering is not an illness. But when life’s challenges prevent a person from coming to terms with that suffering, leading them to a state of illness, that’s when we can consider it a mental health issue,” she noted.