TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Marta Skorczynska
With this project, „Reconnecting to the basics”, we wanted to go back to the approach of Empathic Communication, recognising, on one hand, the value it had when being right in the moment of crisis, and on the other hand, including it in the recovery process after experiencing the crisis. The global pandemic situation was unstable. We needed to move on and adapt to the situation as it was, finding a way to deal with tensions pilling up for months. During a training course youth workers could raise their knowledge and experience in the Empathic Communication
approach, Anthroposophy, Applied Drama – methodologies supporting deep connection, reflection, and regaining stability in crisis moments.
The activity planned for the project was a training course directed to youth workers, trainers, facilitators, educators, youth leaders, teachers, who: * were beginners in using empathy based tools in their work and find it important to develop further
their competence, * who were interested to learn about and experience applied drama and biocentric approach or who already acknowledged the value it could bring to their work, and wanted to learn more about it * felt affected by the pandemic situation and were looking for regeneration. It gathered 24 participants employed (or volunteering) directly at the partner organisations or working with their local partners, from the countries: Poland, Spain, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Cyprus.
EMPATHIC COMMUNICATION approach is inspired with the work of M.Rosenberg and the Centre for Nonviolent Communication. In the core of what they explain is the nonviolent communication driven by compassion are two elements: EMPATHY which allows us to feel and recognise what is alive – first inside ourselves, and then expanding to feel in tune with another person. Learning the vocabulary of feelings and needs might be helpful to practice the skill of recognising different emotional-cognitive states, being able to name them also for the others. HONESTY, which means that NVC is not about being nice but being honest. Honest with what is present and alive in you in the moment – not in the past nor in the imagined future. Honest in admitting that you might feel hurt or uncomfortable, honest in setting limits and being assertive, honest in noticing your own anger and blocks for empathy. Only this way we may build a connection – with oneself, and then with others. ANTHROPOSOPHY AND BIOCENTRIC APPROACH The twelve senses Anthroposophical theory and the biocentric approach proposed by Rudolf Steiner in early 1900, explains the importance of sensory perception as a way to form the basis of the relationship with oneself, the surroundings and the people around from an empathic perspective, as well as its relation with health and vitality. He focuses on will, feel and think as the holistic development of human beings and the observation of phenomenology of natural elements to gain understanding and knowledge about one's identity and capacities to play an active role in the responsibility to create a conscious living community. APPLIED DRAMA activities will be introduced as a complementary method adding a new dimension. It uses theatre techniques of preparing to role playing and stage performing to practice different social and psychological roles and scenarios, focusing on the „actor’s” self reflection and self development rather than on the performance. Those activities lead to developing awareness and changes in understanding. This happens through reflection over what has been acted with the help of the body, what has been expressed outside and felt inside. Through this analisis, we practice awareness of our behaviour and interaction with others.
As a result of the workshops and meetings with co-workers and target groups there was created
a booklet with good practices – specific activities with instructions which participants used in their own practice: https://bit.ly/reconnecting_basics
Trainer - responsible for the program planning, implementation, and evaluation.