The problem of smoking among youth will be discussed at an international seminar in Vitebsk

May 20, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The problem of smoking among youth will be discussed at an international inter-university seminar in Vitebsk on May 25 with the participation of about 100 teachers and students of Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov (VSU) and the Moscow Institute of Psychology and Pedagogy (IPP), reported to BELTA correspondent Anna Orlova, Head of the Department of Social and Pedagogical Work at VSU, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences. The event will consider various aspects of forming a healthy lifestyle among youth from the perspective of psychology and social pedagogy. The participants' presentations will focus on studying the causes of nicotine addiction from the standpoint of various psychotherapeutic approaches, features of social work in preventing addictions among children and adolescents, and research on attitudes towards health issues in the student environment. A separate discussion area will be dedicated to exploring the potential of art in preventing and improving the health of modern society, and the potential of artistic imagery as a means of liberation from tobacco and drug addiction. The event program includes not only a plenary session but also creative projects. The "Postdvizhenie" theater, operating at the Moscow IPP, will perform an interactive play "Dwarf Nose" for the student audience, which tells how smoking addiction is overcome through creativity. The play's director, Vladimir Nikitin, Head of the Department of Philosophical Anthropology and Art Therapy at IPP, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, will conduct a master class for Vitebsk students, following which it is planned to stage an interactive play dedicated to solving the problem of smoking. The main goal of the inter-university seminar is to unite the potential of universities and students of the two countries to organize work in the youth environment on the prevention of tobacco and drug addiction. The seminar is timed to coincide with the International No Tobacco Day, celebrated on May 15, and the "Belarus Against Tobacco" campaign. The seminar became possible thanks to the activities of the inter-university research laboratory of art therapy, which was established within the framework of the cooperation agreement between VSU and IPP in 2006. -0-