Murcia

Located on the banks of the Segura River, Murcia is the capital city of the Autonomous Region of Murcia, in southeastern Spain. Due to its strategic enclave as a border territory, mid-way between the Meseta and Andalusia, the city of Murcia has been a crossing for several civilizations. Muslims, Castilians and Valencian-Aragones have all left their imprints on the city. The vestiges of such an intense past can still be appreciated today throughout its pedestrianised old town and narrow streets filled with iconic architectural sites and museums.

Murcia city is also dotted with picturesque parks and numerous plazas. Thanks to this, and its warm Mediterranean climate, the city feels incredibly lively, vibrant, and filled with culture, history, and great gastronomy. Immigrants and foreign workers have expanded this heritage more recently, increasing Murcia’s sociocultural diversity thanks to their customs, cuisine, new ideas, art, entrepreneurship, etc.

This buoyance came to a halt with the outbreak of the COVID-pandemic. Lockdowns and movement restrictions constrained access to socialisation, play and physical contact, leaving many children and young people confused and at loss. This, together with the realization of the novel stressors experienced by parents and caregivers, led to increasing episodes of frustration, anxiety, emotional unrest, sleeping and eating problems, withdrawal and even violence. Incluso tras la completa Even after the complete re-opening of the economy, these symptoms remain higher than pre‑crisis levels.

Active since 1985, the psychosocial counselling service acted as a platform for children and young people to address some of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Active since 1985, the psychosocial counselling service acted as a platform for children and young people to address some of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The RE-ACT project gives us an opportunity to share good lessons of the service with our European counterparts while learning from their own experiences in an attempt that knowledge exchange results in a network of cities with an improved capacity to address the mental health and well-being of young Europeans.