Adventure Education in Youth Work Vol.2

AIM

Modern youth and the area of youth work in general face many challenges (rising mental health issues, uncertainty about the future, peer pressure, ...). Creating spaces of meaningful connection has never been more important than now. With this training we would like to invite you to explore the potential of adventure education in youth work.

The main aim of this explorative training will be to experience different forms of adventure and to search for lessons and meaning in them for you and for your youth work practice. The training is in its second edition, after its pilot in summer of 2022. It was also presented as a good practice in international newsletter SangSaeng - http://www.unescoapceiu.org/post/4641 (from page 25 on).

OBJECTIVES

• Learn about adventure education through experiencing adventure education - the training itself will be a series of little and not-so-little adventures, also in and with nature.
• Deconstruct and harvest the elements of what adventure education consists of and gain an understanding of how to use them in one's youth work practice.
• Explore the potential of this transformational process for young people, its tangible and intangible outcomes, and the impact of adventure education.
• Invite participants to co-create the content by sharing their experiences, methods, approaches, questions and ideas that they use, or would like to use, in their YW practice.
• Present and explore possibilities of bringing regular youth work activities into nature.
• Explore what the role of a facilitator of adventure education is and how to embody it.

CONTENT

The aim of the training will be the experience of various processes and methods of adventure education. You will be invited to:

• sleep in tents;
• attend a longer hike (2 days, minimum 5h walking per day) and sleep outside in another location for at least one night;
• take advantage of the natural surroundings and do most of the activities outside and in the forest;
• experience the low ropes methodology as one of the approaches of adventure education;
• take shorter and longer (intentional) hikes in nature, individually and in a group;
• share stories, music and memories around the fire;
• co-create part of the schedule and present your own approaches, methods and activities;
• experience simple breathing and meditation techniques to connect with oneself and the environment;
• learn how to create space for dealing with possible tensions in groups of youngsters when experiencing adventure education;
• participate in common sessions in the morning and in the evening, with the possibility then of choosing among parallel sessions on some of the days;
• reflect on the lessons and processes we garner with the support of diverse methods.

TARGET GROUPS

Youth leaders, trainers and experienced volunteers (who want to step into the shoes of youth workers). Some experience with facilitating learning in natural environments is very welcome, especially if it comes with motivation to share the new experience and bring an adventure education approach to youth work practice back home.

A conversational level of English is a requirement.

If u are facing any kind of situations which are limiting your participation (special needs, disabilities, health issues,...) please do contact us on tina@drustvolojtra.si and we can go through the options of your participation together.

More info in attached info pack.

Link to the online application: https://forms.gle/PTYoU7ppNJHyHAAv7