Autumn Training 2022 - Youth Organisations Track

Aims & objectives

-Participants will learn what mental health is and its scope.
-Participants will learn the many different aspects of our lives that shape, influence and determine our mental health, with a special focus on determinants in a youth organisation.
-Participants will learn how their mental health is or can be affected as part of a youth organisation and as a volunteer.
-Participants learn to look at themselves in their youth organisation with a different perspective and understand areas where mental health can be affected.
-Participants understand how Mental health can be affected in a team by personal triggers.
-Participants will be able to approach mental health issues in a team.
-Participants will develop the perspective of looking at internal events through a mental health lens.
-Participants will identify the strengths and weaknesses of events from MH point of view.
-Participants will learn to look at a youth organisation as a whole and see its workings, structure, etc, from the point of view of mental health.
-Participants will deepen their knowledge of the discussed topics by committing themselves to a creative project that they have to work on and present to the track. The goal is to solidify the learnings of participants.
-Participants will deepen their knowledge of the discussed topics by committing themselves to a creative project that they have to work on and present to the track. The goal is to solidify the learnings of participants.
-Participants will learn to give feedback and will evaluate the training and its sessions.
-The goal is also to measure the overall learning effect of this training.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

Participants from;
Czech Republic, Norway, Hungary, Greece, Poland, Finland, Romania, Germany.

Team
Trainers; Hungary, Greece, Germany, Finland
Mentors; Italy, Czech Republic
Training Coordinator; Greece

Training methods used & main activities

Participatory and co-learning approach, group work, discussion, brainstorming icebreakers, role play, simulation, buzz groups, self reflection and open space.

Outcomes of the activity

Since this activity was a hybrid training, consisting of three physical training days and one online follow-up part, the outcomes were also created through work both on site in Cervia and online collaboration afterwards. The participants worked in smaller groups and focused on outlining concrete steps and actions for ESN to take in order to provide better support to international youth in the field of mental health. The participants of the track of Youth Organisations created recommendations for campaigns on mental health throughout the calendar year, as well as recommendations for considering mental health aspects while working in teams.
The biggest learning for many was that time off from ESN should be more acceptable and implemented. This will not only ensure a happy and comfortable workplace, but also live and breathe mental health, so we can lead by example during our work with international students. They went into the many facettes of a youth organisation from focusing on the volunteers of these organisations and their mental health, to approaching this topic in a team and during internal events. They also focused on the internal support structures of the Erasmus Student Network, identified what is already there, what is missing and how those lacks can be filled.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

With my co-trainer;
-Needs analysis
-Agenda creation
-Activites & Sessions creation
-Facilitation

I worked on this training for 3 days as a full time trainer.