TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Eszter Szabo
The Guided by Nature training activity aimed to strengthen the capacity of youth workers to support inclusion, empowerment, and wellbeing of disadvantaged young people, particularly those facing challenges such as social exclusion or mental health difficulties, by using nature-based methods and activities.
The training addressed several core needs:
- the need to expand professional competencies in outdoor, nature-embedded non-formal education;
- the need for tools to connect young people from underprivileged environments to meaningful learning and community experiences;
- the need to improve resilience, social inclusion, and wellbeing support practices among youth workers;
- the need for experiential approaches that go beyond classroom theory and foster deep engagement with participants’ holistic development;
This training fit strongly with the goals of the partner organisations, which focus on youth empowerment, inclusion, community engagement, and innovative non-formal learning. It connected their shared commitment to nature-based, holistic, and sustainable youth work practice, while fostering professional development relevant for their daily work with diverse youth groups.
The target group consisted of 36 youth workers and practitioners actively working with young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds or with special needs, including mental health challenges.
Participants came from nine programme countries, creating a richly international learning environment:
Sweden (host), Romania, Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Slovakia
This intercultural mix supported cross-cultural exchange, peer learning, and broadened youth work perspectives across European contexts.
The Guided by Nature training was grounded in non-formal learning practices that foreground participative, experiential, and reflective pedagogies. Examples of methods included:
- Nature-based experiential learning — participants explored learning through interactions with the natural environment, encouraging embodied reflection and connection to place.
- Guided meditation and mindfulness in nature — integrative practices that supported emotional regulation, self-awareness, clarity, and presence.
- Reflection circles and dialogue groups — intentional spaces to share personal insights, process experiences, and deepen understanding of inclusion work.
- Movement and expressive activities — dance, walking, and body-based practices aimed at strengthening self-awareness, group cohesion, and somatic learning.
- Peer exchange and storytelling — participants shared effective practices and challenges from their work, enriching context-specific youth work strategies.
These methods empowered participants to explore professional competencies beyond cognitive skills, integrating heart, mind, body, and environment into meaningful learning.
The training achieved significant professional and personal development outcomes:
- Participants developed enhanced competence in using nature-based approaches for inclusion and empowerment of disadvantaged youth.
- Youth workers reported increased motivation, creativity, and confidence in designing and facilitating outdoor and nature-centered youth activities.
- The training fostered stronger awareness of how environment and embodiment can support social inclusion and wellbeing among young people.
- Feedback indicated personal transformation, more profound reflective capacities, and a renewed sense of purpose in their professional roles.
Signs of success included active participant engagement, shared action plans for follow-up activities in home contexts, qualitative reflections, and ongoing contact among participants beyond the mobility.
https://levelupngo.com/project/guided-by-nature-2/
https://positiveyouthngo.weebly.com/guided-by-nature.html
During the Guided by Nature training activity, I participated as an apprentice trainer, supporting the trainers’ team with a specific focus on mindfulness-based practices within a non-formal learning framework.
My role involved co-facilitating mindfulness sessions, primarily in natural settings, which supported participants’ self-awareness, presence, emotional regulation, and reflective capacity. These sessions included guided mindfulness practices, simple grounding exercises, and facilitated moments of stillness integrated into the daily programme.
I supported the learning process by assisting in reflection spaces connected to mindfulness activities, helping participants articulate their experiences and link them to their professional youth work contexts. My involvement was carried out under the guidance of experienced trainers and was limited to the mindfulness component of the programme, rather than the overall training design or coordination.
Through this apprentice role, I contributed to the wellbeing-oriented dimension of the training while developing my own trainer competences in a supervised, practice-based learning environment.