Prof. Veronica TORRENT
Founder, “Corriente por los Niños” Foundation
Argentina/ Paraguay
Prof. Veronica Torrent has been working in education for 36 years, first as a kindergarten teacher and then as an emotional educator after completing her postgraduate degree in the University of Barcelona. Prof. Torrent has created a project on Emotional Education for the High Court of Justice of the Province of Corrientes, and has run workshops on emotional education and emotional regulation training. She also studied social sciences at SIGEN http://iser.gob.ar/, and has a postgraduate degree in NGOs Management and Social Economy. Veronica is also a qualified trainer in rural, social, and hospital pedagogy. In 2009, she founded “Corriente por los Niños” NGO, in Corrientes, Argentina. Since February 2021, Professor Torrent has extended the NGO to Encarnación, Paraguay where she is currently developing a variety of programs on emotional education. She has been a speaker in various international conferences in Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, China, Turkey, Ecuador, Philippines and Spain. She has been given national and international awards such as "Evita Compañera”, “Paleta de Plata”(for her artwork for the blind),"Domingo Faustino Sarmiento" Mention of Honor and the “World of Hope" Award in La Havana, Cuba. In 2016, she became a distinguished Citizen of the Province of Corrientes, Argentina, as recognition for her contribution in the field of rural and inclusive education, and emotional education. Prof. Torrent is the author of ”Con Los Ojos del Alma” which was published in 2018. In her book, she approaches accessible art for the blind and aesthetic emotions.
Constructing Well-being: The Argentinean Perspective of the Role of Emotional Development and Physical Activity
Despite the relentless pursuit of holistic health, the world navigates in emotional illiteracy. Bisquerra (2001) affirms that wellbeing is the purpose of emotional education. Wellbeing is a construction that includes emotional regulation where physical activity is a fundamental tool: the intervention of the body-mind exercise produces happiness hormones (i.e. dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, etc) together with yoga and mindfulness practice. This promotes the intentional construction of wellness by means of mental associations that boost personal and social wellbeing. This presentation is based on the implementation of the theories of the construction of wellness whose tools are related to emotional development and the analysis of Paul Ekman´s contribution about positive emotions (2003), and Seligman´s positive psychology (1999), “The Science of Wellbeing”. Having UNDG 3 and 4 has a reference framework; this presentation will highlight the relation between physical activity and basic emotional skills, and the performance of the level of tolerance to frustration based on her work in Argentina. This will aid to raise awareness of the fact that personal and social wellbeing can be learnt, created and increased, and that education, health professionals, organizations and politics are key elements to create happy communities whenever their premise is to become agents in the construction of a more positive life and a more humane world.