TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Katarzyna Kowalska
This international training supported trainers and professionals working with young people in facilitating dialogue in conflict situations and addressing controversial topics through Restorative Circles as a storytelling-based restorative practice.
The project aimed at addressing the following topics:
Intercultural and international group work: Using Restorative Circles to develop intercultural competencies, create shared understanding and support dialogue in culturally diverse groups.
- Dialogue on controversial topics: Facilitating safe and structured spaces to discuss sensitive or polarising issues and to stay in dialogue despite differing opinions.
Engaging with conflicts in groups and learning environments: Applying Restorative Circles to address conflicts constructively, support responsibility and maintain communication in challenging situations.
Storytelling and participatory media: Using storytelling as a core element of Restorative Circles and exploring participatory media and creative tools to prepare, accompany and deepen circle processes in trainings and workshops.
The project addressed participating youth workers' needs for gaining new knowledge and practical skills they can regularly use in their work practice, especially while conducting educational activities in conflict sensitive contexts.
The core project team consisted of facilitators and trainers from Poland and Germany.
Training's participants included youth workers, educators (formal and non-formal), trainers, facilitators and professionals from Poland, Germany, Serbia, France, Czechia, Greece, the UK, Belgium, Malta and Spain, working with young people in educational, community or social work contexts such as intercultural and migrant settings.
It was designed for participants who are interested in conflict transformation, dialogue and restorative practices and who are motivated to apply and transfer the learning into their professional work within an international group.
The training was based on experiential learning and non-formal education with lots of space for participants contributions, experience sharing, and reflection. Participants explored intercultural group work, conflict engagement and creative storytelling approaches, while gaining practical skills to apply and facilitate Restorative Circles in diverse educational, youth work and other contexts.
As a result of the project, participants gained new competences related to using Restorative Circles and storytelling as tools for conflict transformation, dialogue, and community building in their everyday work practice with youth.
They also gained practical experience in facilitating Restorative Circles, explored ways of creating safe spaces for dialogue on polarising, sensitive topics.
Participants also explored how storytelling and participatory media can be used as tools to support restorative processes.
The results were assessed through participants’ evaluation forms and feedback collected after the training. In addition. Follow-up communication with participants show that they use Restorative Circles and storytelling based methods regularly in their work practice.
I was responsible for designing and implementing the storytelling related part of the training. This included:
- introduction to storytelling and participatory media methods
- creative photo-based exercises
- visual based storytelling as a tool for reflection and gathering feedback
Apart from this, I was also co-facilitating Restorative Circles in smaller groups.