A Mental Health Toolkit for Youth Workers: Erasmus + Training Course, October 2023
The Mental Health Toolkit for Youth Workers is an 8-day training course for youth workers from October 6 to 15 at Ananda Gaorii Ashram, Farm and Learning Center in Denmark.
This course is co-funded by the European Commission of the EU through Erasmus+
𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓?
The workers will receive a toolkit that they can use when working with youth. They will have a greater comprehension of what defines sound mental health, the most prevalent mental health conditions that affect young people, and a variety of worthwhile activities that promote mental health.
The course will begin with “Mental Health First Aid” training by qualified professionals to provide the participants with a strong common basis on the subject of mental health and youth work. This will equip participants with three things:
1) knowledge of the most common mental illnesses and crises that affect young people,
2) knowledge of how to respond to a young person who exhibits signs of psychological distress, and
3) awareness of the warning signs and symptoms of mental illnesses and crises, and a Mental Health First Aid Action Plan on how to help the young person cope with the crisis and get relevant professional help.
In addition to Mental Health First Aid training, the program will also include exercises and activities covering meditation, yoga, mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), all of which have been proven in numerous studies to have long-lasting benefits for mental health and well-being and which can be practiced for the entire course of one’s life.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞:
1) To address the youth mental health crisis by providing a practical training that introduces participants to tools taken from mental health first aid, cognitive behavioural therapy, yoga, meditation, mindfulness and positive social engagement which can be used to benefit the participants and their target groups suffering from mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression, addiction and suicidal thinking.
2) To strengthen cooperation amongst the partners in the field of youth mental health.
3) To lay the foundation for expanding that cooperation to include a wider network of partners.
4) To promote greater awareness and understanding of the youth mental health crisis with the goal of catalysing greater action from governmental and civic organisations.
5) To increase the accessibility for participants with fewer opportunities, particularly those facing mental health challenges.
𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐓
This project is co-funded by Erasmus+ funding.
Travelling tickets will be reimbursed after the training.
𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄
Youth workers, 18+ years old (with no age limit) who:
– are motivated to address the youth mental health crisis;
– have skills or experience relevant to the topic;
– are facing physical or mental health challenges;*
– are working with refugees or other groups where the crisis is acutely manifesting;
– are a refugee themselves;
– are working with regenerative and holistic projects and activities that offer alternatives/solutions to some of the systemic problems which are contributing to the crisis;
– have experience with Erasmus+ mobilities;
– face health, economic or geographic barriers;
– face disadvantages (unemployed, broken homes, poverty, NEETs) but show potential and interest in youth work;
– have sufficient level of English to participate in the training;
– are committed to share the knowledge and experience achieved inside the partner organisation;
– are from Denmark, Ukraine, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, France, Armenia, Greece, Turkey or Bulgaria.
*𝐈𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬 (𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐭𝐜) 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞. 𝐈𝐟 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐦/𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐞.
