First Aid Kit for Emotional Wellbeing. Tools to promote emotional wellness in young people.

Young people are particularly vulnerable as youth is a crucial developmental stage where mental health and wellbeing can be easily affected. The pandemic has especially affected the mental health of young people (depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc.) and increased dropouts and risky behaviors. From this derives the necessity to equip youth workers, as key stakeholders, with tools to promote wellbeing, resilience and mental health among the young people they work with.

Aims:
To provide youth workers with the necessary tools to:
● Promote mental health and emotional wellbeing among youngsters
● Prevent from emotional suffering
● Address situations of suffering by providing safe emotional support
● Implement activities and projects that address young people's emotional well-being
● Understand mental health from the systemic and attachment theoretical framework

Contents:
● Understanding mental health and emotional well-being. Risk and protective factors. Systemic and attachment theoretical framework: the circle of security, developmental tasks in adolescence and relevance of context.
● Reflecting on emotional suffering and deconstructing the stigma of mental health by incorporating systemic and attachment perspectives. (mental health stigma prevents young people from feeling they can access help, as noted in the thematic report of the VI Structured Dialogue Cycle).
● Tools for addressing emotional suffering: secure relationships, emotional accompaniment, reflective listening, emotional validation, solution exploration and self-care.
● Interventions in the youth work field: building safer spaces, tools to foster awareness and emotional well-being in young people, creating support networks, interventions in leisure time and nature, community interventions, policy advocacy and mental health.

The methodology will be participant-centred and based on non-formal education, experiential learning and intercultural learning. A variety of interactive working methods will be used (working groups, guided self-reflection, workshops, etc.) to ensure a balanced combination of exchange, input and practical application.
The programme will also include a visit to local projects in Avilés, during which a range of resources and initiatives offered by the municipality’s youth department will be presented. These projects target young people from diverse backgrounds (young people with fewer opportunities, those at risk of early school leaving, migrants, etc.).

Through direct input from those responsible for the projects, as well as from some of the young people involved, we will gain first-hand insight into how emotional wellbeing among young people is promoted in practice.
Moreover, the training will follow a systemic approach. We will analyze the different systems where youth workers can intervene with young people, propose and exchange intervention tools useful for the different systems.

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