“Attention! Children’s Mental Health”: Daycare Sponsorships Promote Mental Well-being
Today, more and more children and adolescents are exhibiting mental health issues, yet in many places there is a lack of adequate therapeutic services. With a strong network of volunteer doctors, the Achtung! Kinderseele Foundation is therefore focusing on preventive programs in daycare centers.
As early as 2015, the Achtung! Kinderseele Foundation launched a daycare sponsorship program in which specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry or psychotherapy volunteer to support daycare centers. They attend parent-teacher meetings, conduct topic-specific informational sessions, and offer advice on specific questions. Thanks to their expertise, they are highly valued by parents and guardians as well as the staff involved, and can raise awareness of potential issues early on, before they become entrenched.
There are currently just under 70 partnerships. Nineteen daycare providers collaborate with the foundation through continuing education events, reaching a total of around 450 facilities. The program is set to grow significantly by fall 2028: the goal is to expand to 120 partnerships. For this to succeed, more staff capacity, professional coordination, documentation, and systematic impact measurement are needed. In the medium term, those responsible aim to further develop the concept so that it is recognized and co-funded by health insurance companies and public health departments.
Prevention as a Response to a Growing Crisis
The social need is high—studies show that one in five to six children now develops mental health issues. The causes are diverse: they range from unhealthy pressure to perform to digital influences and global crises. Prevention thus takes on central importance. SAGST has supported “Achtung! Kinderseele” in the past and sees the planned expansion as an important step forward, as project manager Elke Rahmann explains: “By empowering parents and professionals, the daycare sponsorship program helps foster children’s resilience at an early stage. The upcoming expansion is a forward-looking step that will ensure the program is structurally anchored and can have a lasting impact in the future.” The goal is to transform a proven model into a tool that can be replicated nationwide to improve children’s health.
