TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Nora Taliga
D.I.G DEEP aimed to equip youth workers working specifically with marginalised and discriminated youth groups with the competencies to empower, encourage and support the emotional needs, resiliency, self-worth, and mental health of youth. The project had the following specific objectives:
1. Learn new, powerful, and tangible tools that support marginalized youth with mental health, emotional intelligence, authenticity, resilience, and more
2. Share best practices of supporting marginalized and discriminated youth
3. Increase awareness about the importance of mental health and social and emotional tools to support marginalized youth
4. Gain skills to support the emotional needs of discriminated youth
5. Develop skills on equipping youth to embrace authenticity, self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence, resilience, courage and compassion, and vulnerability
6. Develop your willingness and capability to choose authenticity in your line of work and support your youth to do the same.
During this projecrt we were working with participants who:
* were18+ youth leader/ youth worker/ trainer/ teacher/ educator/ social assistant / psychologists
* were involved in youth work or education of young people from marginalized / discriminated backgrounds on a regular basis
* did not necessarily have previous experience with these training topics but had a high motivation and interest in acquiring these skills
* were willing to carry out at least one workshop locally as part of the dissemination process.
* had a GOOD command of English
* were willing and committed to participate throughout the whole duration of the project
* residents from Spain, Lithuania, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Poland, Türkiye, the Republic of Macedonia
The training course built on David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory.
D.I.G. Deep was inspired by the wonderful work of Brené Brown, researcher on shame and vulnerability. In her book, the Gifts of Imperfection, she writes about authenticity as a way of:
*Cultivating the courage to be imperfect,
to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable
*Exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all
made of strengths and struggles
*Nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough
To support the above, some of the key activities we had and methods we chose for this course were:
* role play and theatre
* emotional expression through art
* collage creatition, drawing, painting
* pair, small group and whole-group convesations
* workshops in nature - outdoor education
* visualisation and mindfulness activites
* daily rituals with a meditation course to learn the basics (every morning)
* visual and kynestetic storytelling
* kynestetic learning
* interactive exhibition for self-reflection and practicing
* self-reflection
During this 8-day training course in the middle of the beautiful Lithuanian nature, 24 participants from across Europe:
* (Knowledge) Learned new, powerful, and tangible tools to support marginalised youth with mental health, emotional intelligence, authenticity, resilience, and more.
* (Skills) Gained skills to support the emotional needs of discriminated youth and to embrace authenticity, self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence, resilience, courage and compassion, and vulnerability.
* (Attitudes) Developed their willingness and capability to choose authenticity* in their
line of work and support their youth to do the same.
Here is what the participants of our training course had to say about their experiences over these 8 days together diving into these DEEP topics:
“It helped me to heal. I had long term trauma and did not expect the wound to open. Participants supported and trainers guided me there and stayed through the process patiently. I have never thought that I can look at my pain and that others will see that moment. I was hiding my wounds for so long from the world and now feel to heard, healed, and seen.”
“I have never experienced anything like this. 30 empathetic people in one place, with professionals in 8 days. It can really pull out even the deepest post-traumatic roots from the depths of the soul and mould open an abyss. This is really possible. An empathetic conscious community does big wonders.”
“Thank you for such an opportunity. Such Erasmus+ projects with such high quality can change people’s lives.
I am telling you, this was the best investment for Europe
and best investment of my own time.”
“When a training makes you work the deepest part of yourself, when you check how wonderful people are when they strip themselves of their ego and character, when emotions overtake you.... You DIG DEEP!! Deeply grateful, we are not alone on the road, humanity embraces you.”
“The DIG DEEP project brought together really high awareness participants and really professional trainers. Their empathy and attention to the participants were maximum until the last minute. Throughout the project we focused on getting to know ourselves and each
other sincerely, being with ourselves and reflection.
We meditated, learned to get to know our emotions, drew personal limits, approached inner fears, experienced painful experiences. This was really THERAPY.
Bad experiences were welcome here, no one needed to justify, no one needed to hide and suppress emotions. Even in the OPPOSITE. We have all been with someone who had the hardest time looking at their most painful experiences and showing them to others. We lastly did not spare the SUPPORT, BEAUTIFUL WORDS AND WISHES. This amount of empathy at one time was definitely a MEDICINE for complete healing.”
My role in this project:
* writing the project in cooperation with my co-trainer
* selecting participants
* co-designing the training as one of the main trainers of two
* co-creating infopack and resource material with the other trainer
* delivering the training with the other trainer (65%-35% share due to the co-trainer getting ill during the training)
* providing different project management tasks to support local logistics
* having mentoring sessions with the volunteer team
One of the best trainer.
Working from heart, good mood, motivated ;)
I recommend to all.