A training seminar for educational psychologists according to the Ladya program of primary prevention of HIV/AIDS and risk behaviour among teenagers took place on November 9-12, 2010, at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations. It was attended by school teachers and psychologists from Nizhniy Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Lipetsk, Chelyabinsk, and Bryansk.

They all have worked under the Ladya Program for the recent year and plan to promote it for wider use in their regions.

The seminar program included a study of new techniques for interactive lessons with teenagers and art-therapy methods, a discussion on such topics as personal qualities and skills of a teacher necessary for effective conduct of a training and a possible integration of the discourse on religious worldview in the Program’s lessons. Special attention was given to the problem of preventing drug-addiction among teenagers.

The Ladya Program was elaborated under the aegis of the DECR by a team of Christian and secular specialists including pedagogues, psychologists, psychiatrists and narcologists. Today it is successfully implemented in schools and colleges in 10 regions of the Russian Federation. The seminar was held with the support of the UN Population Fund.