TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
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The training activity aimed to promote positive mental health, learning, and inclusion for young people by sensitizing youth workers and organizations to use adventure and outdoor experiential education methods to foster a healthy lifestyle. The project addressed the need to provide participants with a personal and professional learning experience based on a process-oriented facilitation in nature. It also sought to develop a shared non-formal educational vocabulary through a common methodology. The activity fit the goals of the partner organizations by supporting their mission to provide high-quality, innovative youth work and to promote social inclusion among young people.
The training course was addressed to 25 professionals or volunteers who run non-formal educational activities. The target group for this project was youth workers involved in the education, care, and support of disadvantaged young people. The activity involved an international group of participants from Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The trainer were 2 and italian
The training activity used a variety of non-formal learning methods. The core of the approach was experiential learning in nature and reflective practice. The training was articulated in three main phases. The first phase was a personal experience to learn about oneself and the group, practicing technical skills to plan a learning journey. The second phase involved theoretical inputs on common models used in experiential education, with a deep dive into group dynamics, program planning, facilitation, and reflective practices. The final phase focused on deepening personal learning to transfer new knowledge into planning youth programs, with coaching from professional trainers. Examples of activities included hiking, kayaking, SUP, dragon boat, orienting, climbing, biking, and camping
The training activity achieved several key outcomes. Participants gained the competencies needed to plan and run nature-based experiential activities and to use reflective practices for long-term learning. The organizations benefited from the professional development of their youth workers, enabling them to promote psycho-socio-emotional well-being and inclusion in their social and educational work. Success was measured through the participants' ability to design and run follow-up activities in their home contexts, supported by a trainer
My role in the trainers' team was to serve as a full-time trainer and facilitator. I was one of two trainers for the activity. My responsibilities included introducing participants to the methodology and theoretical framework, as well as providing logistical information. I also supported the transnational teams in organizing their own experiential learning activities for the group. Following the training course, I was responsible for coaching the participants online as they designed and implemented their follow-up activities in their working contexts.