Mindful Storytelling for Youth Work

Dates: 7 days in February or March 2021
Venue: The Netherlands (a house somewhere at nature with good connection to the cities);

For American Indians stories are medicine. Being present with yourself and the audience and speaking from the heart is healing not only for the storyteller but also to those who listen.

Every person not just has a story to share, they are stories themselves. With this program we would like to introduce new tools which could be used in storytelling to amplify the power of stories we tell. The training is aiming at trainers, facilitators, youth workers and youth leaders who already have experience and are actively practicing as trainers and facilitators.

This training blends best practices from:
storytelling: How do we create spaces that are conducive to sharing stories? How do we increase engagement of our target groups using storytelling?
mindfulness: how to be more present and how to amplify our presence while sharing stories? How to become more mindful of our emotions? How to stay grounded?
neuroscience: how our brains work? How to create our own reality? How not to mislead ourselves by expectations? How to have a healthy relationship with our expectations? How to release negative emotions? How to increase our focus on what matters? How to increase performance/productivity?

Using languages of music, dance, theatre, words, writing and other interactive methodologies in storytelling we explore the stories our bodies, voices, minds, hearts, souls hold and further unleash them and express creatively. Mindfulness allows us to bring more presence and consciousness to various aspects of our being: The Body, Mind, our Heart and our Soul when sharing our stories. Neuroscience gives us insights into science behind all that.

The training has the following learning objectives:
equip participants with non-formal educational methodologies such as mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of the senses, mindfulness of movement, mindfulness of visual expression, mindfulness of the sound;
rise awareness about ways to create more inclusive communities through storytelling to foster sharing and celebration of diversity;
improve competencies linked to professional profiles of youth workers, youth leaders to enable them better address the needs of the target groups;
increase the capacity of participants to focus and be more performant in their work;
Increase understanding of their own emotions and how they can manage themselves even in difficult situations;

With neuroscience, we will work on understanding our brain & learn how it works. We will understand why we often make the same mistake and why we’re often disappointed regarding our expectations. We will see how to master our brain and especially our capability to focus on our daily task through various exercises.
We will also look at the science behind happiness, gratitude and other virtues and how we can get the most of our life by cultivating those.

The project will have a 100 EUR participant fee to cover expenses for the accommodation.

If you're interested, email us with your PIF and motivation to get involved. We are looking for organisations who like to get actively involved in the project. It would be great if you could tell us in an email what could be your unique contribution to this project.

Let's collaborate!