Crown Princess Mary of Denmark was the special guest in a brainstorming session of the Me + We programme, developed by the Mary Foundation.
Her Royal Highness arrived at Haslev Idrætsefterskole (Haslev Sports Continuation School in English) on the morning of Tuesday, 14 June, accompanied by the Director of the Mary Foundation, Helle Østergaard.
The two women were welcomed by the School Principal, Torben Svendsen, the Chairman of the Afterschool Association Torben Vind Rasmussen and a student, Iben Nyhuus Vølund.
The Crown Princess then sat down for the brainstorming session, in which, for the first time, the floor was give to the students so that they could explain how they believe Me & We’s work can be continued to best accommodate the needs of young people.
Me & We is “a wellbeing programme that, through concrete exercises and training of teachers, aims to strengthen young people’s social skills and prevent dissatisfaction,” according to the Mary Foundation’s website.
The programme was born in 2019 from a collaboration between the Mary Foundation, the After-School Association and Just Human and was pilot tested in the school year 2020/2021 in 31 schools across Denmark with great success.
Its aim is to “make the students aware of their importance to the community, strengthen their ability to create and maintain meaningful social relationships and let them experience on their own body what it means for their profits to take a break and get their sleep.”
To achieve their goals, the Me & We project has enlisted the help of teachers and other adults that have daily relations with young people. With specific training, these adults have been given the tools to identify and act upon signals that a young adult is going through some hard times of “dissatisfaction,” brought on by comparing themselves to the idealised version of their peers’ lives or body image issues.
