Mindful Storytelling Tools for Youth Work, a 7-day Training that brought together youth workers, youth leaders, and youth trainers from the Netherlands, France, Italy, Bulgaria, and Spain. With this project, we introduced new tools to amplify the power of the stories we tell. This project arises from over 5 years of experience of partner organisations working side by side to organise activities using various creative storytelling methods (dance, music, theatre, etc.) to create a more inclusive society where we celebrate diversity.
The main aim of this project was to strengthen the professional profiles of youth workers, youth leaders, and youth trainers through the introduction of the MS (Mindful Storytelling) methodology (storytelling informed by know-how from mindfulness and neuroscience), resulting in higher-quality youth work in our communities to foster social inclusion.
The training engaged participants in comprehensive professional development of competencies aligned with the European Trainer Strategy. Each day of training focused on one competence for reflection, so that participants could understand which one they would like to emphasize and which one to develop to deliver better youth work after the training.
The venue was the Infinity Expedition Ship in Amsterdam, where participants were challenged to live closely together in an unusual setting, led by the boat's world rules.
The project had the following objectives:
- Strengthen the competencies of the participants in creating safer spaces where non-formal education happens using MS;
- Foster the integration of mindfulness into the participants' daily lives.
- Raise awareness about social exclusion and provide the participants with practical knowledge to support their target groups in local communities;
- Help youth workers, leaders, and trainers from participating organisations explore storytelling and the use of mindfulness and neuroscience approaches to promote social inclusion, tolerance, and respect for diversity among youth.
- To reinforce the capacity and international scope of organisations active in the youth field to promote social inclusion with educational activities and initiatives to address the needs of young people;
- Build the capacity of participating organisations in providing quality non-formal education;
- Reinforce cooperation between partner organisations and encourage further implementation of joint initiatives.
Implementation
This training course aims to develop competencies aligned with the professional profiles of youth workers, youth trainers, and youth leaders, and to equip participants with methodologies they can use in the future to create learning environments conducive to the sharing and exchange of stories among young people. Stories that make us all alive, stories that make us want to live aspirational lives, stories we can learn from and share to teach, stories of our cultures, communities, ourselves, and our shared diversity. Through this training course, we educated youth workers to create learning environments using mindful storytelling methods to contribute to an inclusive society where we celebrate our shared diversity and a world where we celebrate our shared humanity.
The project included 28 participants with the following profile:
- Involvement in the civil society within their countries, active within partner organisations, and beyond as trainers/facilitators;
- have experience in local, and perhaps also international, youth work, other community and profession-related projects;
- Have active training practice;
- Working English competence;
- Age from 20 years on;
- Eager to learn, get involved in all activities of the training, as well as follow-up activities; critically assess their previous knowledge and competencies, as well as new ones they are going to acquire;
- Actively contribute to sharing knowledge and cultures during the project;
- Willing to use their learning and disseminate project results in their organisations/practices and beyond;
- Eager to share cultures and be open to diversity;
Through monitoring held during the whole project and usage of indicators, special for each objective, our success has been measured in the following pillars:
Success visible in numbers, interviews, or written feedback; Success that measures good management; Success as personal feedback.
We plan to organise other youth exchanges in the future to share experiences at the Catfarm, an eco-community built on sustainable values.
Results
Blog Post about the project:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/54249526
Event:
Blog Post about the project and the Valparaiso boat trip + Pictures + Interview Video by 2 participants
https://catfarm.net/playground/mindfullstorytelling/
PARTICIPANTS HAVE
Improved their skills and competencies and became better in youth work through learning by doing (not only during the training but also after); Broadened understanding of neurosciences, storytelling, and mindfulness, and their usage in educational purposes; Gained an understanding of interconnections between mindfulness, neuroscience, storytelling, youth work, diversity education, and relevant stakeholders; Increased capacity to face challenges youth face in their communities, as well as better respond to those challenges through designing efficient activities which are inclusive, interactive, and beneficial for youth, as well as the community.
Coordinator: Stichting Adventures of the Valparaiso
• Start date 01-08-2020 • End date 31-05-2021
• ASOCIACION BUILDING BRIDGES 🇪🇸 Spain • Catfarm Education 🇫🇷 France • SDRUZHENIE WALK TOGETHER 🇧🇬 Bulgaria • Twoplustwo 🇮🇹 Italy
2020-2-NL02-KA105-003105