Debrecen4U October 16, 2025

“The Power of Hugging” – Mental Health Support Program Launches in Debrecen Schools

As part of the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative, Deputy Mayor Diána Széles, Director of the Debrecen School District Center László Türk, and Director of the DMJV Family and Child Welfare Center Aurélia Ibolya Orosz, presented the details of the mental health support program called “The Power of a Hug” on World Hug Day on October 15, 2025.

As Diána Széles said, “The launch of ‘The Power of Hugging’ mental health support program was prompted by experiences gained during health development and mental hygiene classes held as part of biennial school health screenings affecting nearly 14,000 children in the city each year. According to these, children in the fourth grade of primary schools still form well-functioning small communities, but by the sixth grade these communities break up, mutual and self-harming behaviors appear, and the children also voice their serious concerns about this. The city government believed that action had to be taken in this situation. The Debrecen School District Center, led by Director László Türk, was the first to join the program, which is now to be launched gradually, in small steps, in consultation with the heads of the schools operating under the maintenance of the school district center.”

Diána Széles believes that we are in the 24th hour when it comes to protecting children’s good mental health—not just in Debrecen, but all over the country, in every community. The situation worsened significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, when communities fell apart and the digital space became the primary means of connecting young people with each other and the world. Children typically have mobile phones from the age of five, and parents need to be very careful to teach them how to use the digital space correctly. That is why the Debrecen local government decided to join forces with the Debrecen School District Center and the DMJV Family and Child Welfare Center, and in connection with the “Move, Debrecen!” initiative, to launch a mental health support program entitled “The Power of Hugging.” (This was the title of the flower float, which was created with the help of community decoration and community collaboration for the 2025 Flower Carnival and was a great success with the public.) Strong communities are able to provide help to those in need.

Diána Széles thanked the staff of Médiacentrum Debrecen, Zsuzsa Keserű and Dia Szakál, who have created and are creating thematic podcasts for parents, schools, and even children. (The first podcast is available here. 

The DMJV Family and Child Welfare Center has been employing kindergarten and school social workers in educational institutions in Debrecen with government support since 2018. As part of “The Power of Hugging” program, new professionals will talk to children in person in small communities during class teacher lessons or ethics classes about problems that have arisen in the classroom and that can ruin a child’s entire life—peer bullying, cyberbullying, excessive screen time, fear of missing out (FOMO), and anxiety—and they can work together to find solutions to them. According to the deputy mayor, if there is a problem with the child’s life, it also causes problems in the family. Therefore, they want to help families through community cooperation within the framework of “The Power of Hugging” program. Podcasts will thus help to address and clarify potential problems, but the discussion of problems in lectures and the provision of assistance in solving them will take place in the form of personal conversations with the participation of parents, with the help of professionals. These lectures and discussions—and where necessary, individual mentoring—will be hosted by the DMJV Family and Child Welfare Center (Debrecen, Thomas Mann Street 2/A). It is very important that a community can develop in this way that does not “sweep problems under the carpet” but explores them and tries to solve them together. According to Diána Széles, “we must practice acceptance, and to do this we must be open to others.” The creators of “The Power of Hugging” program want to strengthen this openness among the citizens of the city, the families of Debrecen.

László Türk, director of the Debrecen School District Center, introduced his speech with a thought by photographer Péter Korniss: “A community is where one person embraces another.” As he said, “The world is constantly changing, and schoolteachers are always facing new professional challenges and are happy to help if needed. This collaboration shows that it is better to help together. The National Core Curriculum, the framework curriculum, the institutional local curricula, and the teachers’ curricula also include the need to address the problems already mentioned. Both in primary and secondary schools, they deal with the development of students’ emotional intelligence in the areas of adaptation and safety. Students learn about the concepts of abuse, conflict, and aggression and learn and master age-appropriate conflict management methods. ‘The Power of Hugging’ program introduces new methods to this work that can help solve problems.” László Türk emphasized that he believes that through “The Power of Hugging” program, through cooperation with the local government and local government institutions, the circle of assistance of educational institutions will be completed and expanded, and they will be able to reach all parents. This will give every parent who has been reached out to an extra incentive to discover and try to solve their child’s problems. In the opinion of László Türk, the hug is a symbol that further enhances the significance of this program, and “The Power of Hugging” program will be successful and will achieve its goal.

According to Aurélia Ibolya Orosz, head of the DMJV Family and Child Welfare Center, ” ‘The Power of Hugging’ program is a special and gap-filling initiative. The school environment is crucial for children’s social development. They learn there what friendship, cooperation, and conflict management mean—or even how to stay on their feet in a difficult situation. However, in the 21st century, the digital world has presented new challenges for parents, children, and all of us. Children’s everyday lives are increasingly overshadowed by peer abuse and online bullying. These are not just current problems but factors that destroy emotional security, development, and relationships, which parents, children, and educators have to deal with every day. Since this problem has been recognized, Orosz Ibolya Aurélia thinks that they are on the right track because they want to do something about the problems. They want to do something to change this situation, and they developed the program that forms a bridge between children, parents, teachers, and professionals. The symbol of hugging carries the image of a community that provides security, love, and protection. A community where no one is alone, and therefore there is no need to turn to artificial intelligence as a companion.She emphasized that they all believe that knowledge is not enough for children to thrive—they also need connection, trust, and community. “The Power of Hugging” program aims to create exactly this: a safety net that will catch children when they falter and hold them even when the world around them is more uncertain than ever.

“The Power of Hugging” program will start in Debrecen after the autumn school break in the 5th grade at Lilla Téri Primary School and the 7th grade at Tóth Árpád Grammar School, and this will be preceded by consultations with teachers and parents.

The city government would like to extend the program to nurseries and kindergartens later. Deputy Mayor Diána Széles emphasized that the economic strength of the city of Debrecen makes it possible to finance such additional tasks and welfare programs.

Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu