(Environ)mental health in youth work

Was a training course from the 6th to the 12th of November 2022 on the island of Aegina, Greece. 20 youth workers from The Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Lativia and Poland, and two trainers, Nina Koevoets and Anna Makreandreou, participated in this week long training.

During the training we tried to foster a sense of connection to oneself, each other and nature. The beautiful island made the last thing rather easy. To achieve the first two things as well, we had sessions about mental health and self-care, spend time alone in nature and connected to our vision for our future, and to bond with each other we did some body work on the beach, blindfolded walking in pairs (also meant to open our other senses besides vision) and Way of the Council.

Crucial was realising that if we want to change our behaviour to nature, each other and ourselves, we need to change our paradigm. (A Paradigm is a set of theories and assumptions that comprise a worldview, or developed framework that informs action). We thus articulated several key words for this paradigm change and selected five of them:

As mentioned we also spend time to clarify what we want to do in the near future, and everyone captured their ideas in a drawing. These drawings are included in the video below that gives you an impression of the training. In addition, there are pictures for you to enjoy! And, last but not least, quotes from some participants.

Also have a look at this testimony.below of juan of the participants.