”POSITIVE - Wellbeing&Resilience in Youth Work for Social Change”
Primary focus of working with youth is to improve well-being, not just by considering an individual's physical, mental or emotional health, but also the surrounding contextual influences that affect a young person's ability to fully achieve their goals.
But what can we say about the well-being of practitioners who work with young people?
We all have needs. Young people have their own needs, for support, for involvement, for a positive atmosphere, for communication, for a friendly contexts that capitalizes on their potential. Professionals who work with young people, especially with those in situations of increased vulnerability, have the same needs. Also organizations are contending with a myriad of challenges.
And yet, despite this fact too few interventions focus on professionals. They also experience health problems, anxiety, burn out. So practitioners are core of this project who themselves face challenges and need additional support to remain productively engaged in their work and on the best path to fulfill their role. Project it’s all about empowering practitioners to have a voice too, supporting them to deal with their own emotional issues.
In fact, the well-being and resilience of professionals are a major factor in the quality of the work carried out with young people.
These are arguments for which project focuses on inclusion, on increasing the youth work quality, on innovation&creation new resources, programs supporting well-being&mental health of practitioners, on improvement of different types of abilities to cope with difficulties in Youth Work. Organizations, practitioners are more prepared for facilitating inclusion, social change in so challenging emotionally demanding contexts.
AIM: to support the development of knowledge and innovative practices related to the resilience, mental health and well-being of youth workers and practitioners working with young people at risk, as key factors in increasing the quality of youth work, the social change and inclusion.
Objectives:
O1. To raise understanding of organizations working with youth at risk in terms of own attitude&beliefs and preparedness towards resilience, mental health and well-being of their human resources through 2 transnational studies in 4 countries/at least 9 months of project.
O2. To empower practitioners and organizations working with youth at risk through at least 3 innovative&digital resources supporting well-being&mental health, in 4 countries/European level throughout project.
O3. To develop at least 5 practical training contexts (transnational/national) for professionals working with youth at risk, focusing on abilities related to Well-being&Resilience in Youth Work, in 4 countries/European level.
O4. To increase capacity to exploite project results and awareness regarding the importance of resilience, mental health and well-being in youth work in 5 partner organizations/their national context in 4 countries/European level during 24 months.
TANGIBLE RESULTS:
A) 2 studies-Building Understanding of Organizations working with Youth:
a) ”Attitudes&beliefs of organizations towards Wellbeing&Resilience of practitioners in Youth Work”.
b) ”Ready for positive&supportive organizations for practitioners in Youth Work?”.
B) 3 Digital Resources4Enhancing well-being&mental health of practitioners:
- digital set of cards based on 4 pillars of Resilience
- digital kit with practical resources to improve Emotional Intelligence&Mental Health
- digital story book ”My story, my voice in Wellbeing&Resilience in Youth Work” based on real stories
C) Practical training contexts:
- Training Handbook with 5 modules
- 1 Transnational Training Program: ”Coping with Difficulties in Youth Work - Be WELL, BE POSITIVE!” and 4 national national training programs.
Consortium consists of:
- SOWA Foundation, Poland, as lead partner.
- NLO, Netherlands.
- FEDERACION PROVINCIAL DE ASOCIACIONES DE PERSONAS CON DISCAPACIDAD FISICA Y ORGANICA DE SEVILLA, Spain.
- Association of Consultants and Experts on Social Economy Romania – Navodari Branch.
- Zamolxes Foundation, Romania.
Project period - 24 months (01.10.2025-30.09.2027).
Project website: Lorem ipsum
