The Fondazione Near works with young men and women who have experienced or are experiencing illness. Martina De Marco, project coordinator, creative specialist and social animator, explains the activities of the organisation: “For six years, we have gbeen working on projects for social inclusion and culture. The most important is a newspaper called “Il Bullone.” It’s an official publication, produced by young men and women, and volunteers. The average age is 15 to 30. These are all young men and women who have suffered various types of pathologies, from tumours to leukaemia, from rare or chronic diseases to eating disorders.

Now, the Fondazione Near has joined the Factor J collaborative network. "The foundation has always aimed to help youth. It is nice to confront an audience of young men and women, and Factor J has put us in contact with an audience that we would never have been able to reach on our own. These opportunities help us to better focus on our message. It has helped better define our mission and values.”

We asked Martina to briefly summarise the experience, with an adjective or expression. “The Factor J experience was an experience that I would define as professional. Another adjective I would use to describe our collaboration is challenge. Finally, I would say that Factor J is generative training, even though at present this is just a hope, a reality that must still be developed.”

Martina believes that we must strengthen our message on mental health. “It is important to raise awareness on this issue, to lessen the stigma that still concerns psychological wellbeing. Another fundamental issue for our organisation is sexually transmissible diseases, especially HIV. This is another issue that is still taboo. It is stigmatized and people still don’t understand it. And there are two serious risks, here: contagion and social exclusion.

Project Factor J , promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale with Janssen Italia, is the first curriculum to integrate empathy and the development of emotional intelligence in traditional Italian school curricula and educate young men and women on health and prevention issues, raising the awareness on the respect due to those living in conditions of fragility and consolidating trust in science, an important social operation to stimulate cultural change and mentality, starting from the new generations.