<< Objectives >>The implementation of the current project expects to develop skills and knowledge that the participating youth workers may use in order to help young people maintain healthy internet and technology attitudes and behaviours. The utter aim is not to keep the youth away from digital devices or make them afraid of progress, but to train youth workers on how to educate young people about balancing between digital life and offline life. For this aim to be achieved, the project will develop and actualize a 6 day TECH FREE Training Course (TC) for youth workers, who will be provided with knowledge and skills to help youngsters (18-30) develop a healthy relationship with the internet, social media apps and digital devices. The project sets the following objectives:Provide 25 youth workers from 5 European countries with mobility transnational experiences and exchange of practices. Develop 25 youth workers’ training skills and non intervening guidance techniques.Train 25 youth workers in the main principles of addiction and internet addiction.Raise awareness for 25 youth workers to detect dysfunctional internet and technology related habits of young people at risk of internet and technology addictive behaviours and differentiate those behaviours from healthy ones.Train 25 youth workers in behavioristic techniques to help young people schedule, monitor and maintain healthy routines for internet and digital device use.Engage 25 youth workers in experiential activities that include mindfulness and relaxation techniques that may be used in personalised group counselling and guidance for young people.Produce an accessible, innovative and digitally available training bookletShare materials that youth workers will be able to use in order to limit the use of electronic devices amongst the youth they work with.Indirectly affect youth at risk of internet addiction through the help they will receive by the trained youth workersThe project’s expected results are:Implementation of a 6 day Training Course for 25 youth workers from 5 European countries (Croatia, Italy, Poland, Spain and Greece) making sure to have gender balance amongst participants. The training will take place in Greece in a natural environment, blessed by the benefits of the mountain/sea and its friendly weather.Delivery of one intellectual output: a training toolkit for youth workers and relevant professionals, that they can use in their work with youth, especially those who are at risk of developing addictive habits towards digital devices. During the training activities, the participant Youth Workers from all associations will develop booklets containing all the learning outcomes of the project, in order for their associations and other related organisations to have as a resource for implementing the knowledge and abilities of the project in their respective activities. This will contribute to the multiplying effect of the TC.Skills development and enhancement of the knowledge resources for youth workers.Exchange of good practices and transnational collaboration amongst 5 partners from 5 different countries.Results dissemination on diverse European platforms, such as SALTO.In this way, the project will have a positive impact on the young people who are the main beneficiaries of youth working and more specifically of the youth workers who will participate in the training course.Through this TC we want to respond to the urgent need expressed by active youth workers to find constructive and alternative ways to face the challenges that the digital era is bringing to their field of work. Through the “TECH FREE training toolkit for youth workers” that will be the system development and outreach activity of the project, we hope to expand the results effect and open a concrete dialogue with the youth workers community as a whole.<< Implementation >>ACTIVITY 1: TECH FREE Training CourseThis Training Course will involve 25 youth workers from 5 different countries: Croatia, Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain.It will take place in a natural environment in the peninsula of Pelion in Greece.The training sessions will be implemented by 3 trainers/facilitators from the applying organisation, POREIA YGEIAS (HEALTH ROUTE).The participants of this TC will be Youth Workers who have direct contact with youngsters 18-30 years old in their daily work and who struggle with the challenges that the digital era brings to their field of work. We will have participants who are willing to share the outcome of the Training Course with their colleagues on return and who will agree to participate actively in ALL of the activities of all phases of the TC (preparation, implementation and follow-up/dissemination). Gender balance amongst participants will be ensured.ACTIVITY 2: TECH FREE Toolkit (System development and outreach activities)This activity aims to develop an intellectual output, for the enhancement of skills and knowledge that youth workers may use in order to help young people maintain safe internet and technology attitudes and healthy behaviour related to the use of digital screen devices.POREIA YGEIAS (HEALTH ROUTE) will produce a training toolkit for youth workers, aiming to serve as a pool of idea and a practical guide for youth workers who want to know how to help young people be free from the negative impact of the dysfunctional or even addictive use of internet and screen devices. The “TECH FREE training toolkit for youth workers” will include both information and basic principles on relevant thematics and also practical advice and exercises that youth workers may use with young people aged 18-30 either individually or in a group support setting.The toolkit will be made use of in the Training Course (see Activity 1) but in a pilot version. Additionally, the content of the “TECH FREE training toolkit for youth workers” will be finalised after the end of the youth workers Training Course, in order to be enriched by the feedback or extra input that the participant youth workers will offer to the project’s agenda.<< Results >>With the implementation of this TECH FREE Training Course we want to contribute to the quality of youth work at local, regional, National and European/International levels. The TECH FREE Training Course responds to the (increasing) need of youth workers and youth organisations to find constructive ways to face the challenge of the digital era that we are in and which has just begun.The project’s expected results are:Implementation of a 6 day Training Course for 25 youth workers from 5 European countries (Croatia, Italy, Poland, Spain and Greece) making sure to have gender balance amongst participants. The training will take place in Greece in a natural environment, blessed by the benefits of the mountain/sea and its friendly weather.Delivery of one intellectual output: a training toolkit for youth workers and relevant professionals, that they can use in their work with youth, especially those who are at risk of developing addictive habits towards digital devices. During the training activities, the participant Youth Workers from all associations will develop booklets containing all the learning outcomes of the project, in order for their associations and other related organisations to have as a resource for implementing the knowledge and abilities of the project in their respective activities. This will contribute to the multiplying effect of the TC.Skills development and enhancement of the knowledge resources for youth workers.Exchange of good practices and transnational collaboration amongst 5 partners from 5 different countries.Results dissemination on diverse European platforms, such as SALTO as well as on a local level, through all of the 5 partner organisations.We are also expecting to have a group of motivated youth workers willing to co-organise a TECH FREE Youth Exchange (with the support of the partner organisations) as a follow-up to this Training Course.

In the context of transition from institutional to community based care of children, all CEE countries face the challenge of changing the institutional culture, re-training and continuing competence development of careers and foster parents who look after the children facing multiple disadvantages and being highly exposed to the risk of social inclusion. To facilitate the development of transversal (social, creative and recreational) and professional skills of the carers and foster parents, who must be able to facilitate group living, must be excellent communicators and advocates, have to know how to access a wide range of child protection and child care legislation information, and also have to be able to create a friendly and nurturing environment by mastering the domestic skills this requires, the present project addressed the following objectives:1. Development of professional competence of trainers of carers and foster parents by offering them training curriculum, training materials and best practice models to be used in their daily work.2. Development of the transversal skills of carers and foster parents by training them in fields such as: handling challenges, working with others, verbal and non-verbal communication, creative thinking, critical thinking, learning to learn, planning own work, problem-solving , etc.Besides the immanent development of project management staffs' competencies, 12 specialists (3 from each country, psychologists, social workers) have been trained in the project on how to use the Curriculum, the Training material and the Best Practice Database produced throughout the project. The transnational joint staff training facilitated not only the professional development of the participants, but will also promoted transnational cooperation and collaborative learning of specialists in child protection beyond the lifetime of the project and beyond the borders of the participating countries.Following the transnational training the specialists in each country have organised national pilot training, using (and testing) the materials developed within the project. The training took place at various locations in Romania, Hungary, Austria and Croatia, between February-April 2016. There was a huge interest in the training in each country, so instead of participants altogether (as foreseen in the project proposal) , a number of 154 carers and foster parents (30 participants in Romania, 75 participants in Hungary, 34 participants in Croatia, 15 participants in Austria) took part in the pilots, all of them appreciating and valuing the opportunity very much. Main activities to accomplish the project objectives were: 1) Needs analysis of the target group resulting in a transnational report on training and continuing development needs of carers and foster parents - The Croatian partner (Sirius) has been coordinating the process of needs analysis and provided guidelines for doing the research work. Results of research have been collected on Wiggio group and by e-mail. The guidelines - translated and used in all countries to collect comparable data and information - included a Methodology Guideline the the following annexes: 1. Questionnaire for the individual interview addressed to foster parents, 2. Questionnaire for the individual interview addressed to carers and educators, 3. Questionnaire for the individual interview addressed to other experts, 4. Desk research template, 5. Instructions for filling templates for collecting data from individual interviews, 6. Excel chart for summarizing findings. FINDINGS of desk research and 130 interviews taken in the four countries (41 foster parents, 68 carers and 21 other experts) are summarized and extensively described in the NEEDS ANALYSIS REPORT.2) Developing a CMS based website that will host not only project information and downloadable outputs but also a best practice database: The website is avaialabe at carecomp.eu , it hosts the best practice database, general information and all intellectual outputs of the project.3) Elaboration of a Curriculum and Training Material: based on the needs analysis the partners shared the tasks of developing a Curriculum and a Training Material that meets the most urgent needs of the target group. The units of the Training materials have been elaborated in national languages then translated into English for comparison, testing and peer evaluation. Pilot testing (see above) have been successfully done in each country. The training material units have been adapted and further improved based on the feedback received during the pilot training, then the final Training material has been translated into Croatian, German, Hungarian and Romanian, illustrated and graphic edited for an attractive design and printed, presented on multiplier events and other dissemination events. All language versions are made available on the project website.

"<< Objectives >>With this project we strive to empower youth workers and equip them with mindfulness tools that can foster their own sense of resilience and well-being and that can be employed in their work with young people in order to support young people in cultivating their resilience capacity and well-being. Furthermore, this project aims to equip youth workers with skills for mindful leadership and tools for facilitation of conscious social change that can be used with young people in order to engage them in conscious change-making processes in their local communities. Finally, we aim to enhance the empowerment of youth workers and young people with fewer opportunities and strengthen their inner resources to more actively engage in public life and change-making processes.<< Implementation >>This project entails three activities: a preparatory visit (Activity 1) and two training courses (Activity 2 and 3). Participants taking part in the Activity 1 will be youth workers representing each partner organization, facilitators of the training courses and a project coordinator with nine participants in total. In the Activity 2 (training course ""BE WELL, BE YOU: MINDFULNESS FOR PERSONAL WELL-BEING AND RESILIENCE"") youth workers, and particularly youth workers with fewer opportunities, who have the need and motivation to cultivate their resilience capacity, learn about self-care practices and integrate them into their daily life in order to improve their mental, physical, emotional and social well-being will take part. Furthermore, these youth workers will be motivated to support young people in their communities in doing the same through activities that they will implement on the local level. In total, twenty youth workers will take part in this activity, together with two facilitators and two accompanying persons. In the Activity 3 (a training course ""LEADING FROM WITHIN: MINDFULNESS FOR CONSCIOUS SOCIAL CHANGE"") youth workers from the Activity 2 will have an opportunity to participate together with some new youth workers who have some background knowledge and experience with mindfulness practices because this training course builds on some existing level of mindfulness capacity. Participants will be selected based on their motivation to integrate lessons learned from this activity into their work with young people and engage young people in actions for conscious social change on the local level. In total, twenty youth workers will take part in this activity, together with two facilitators and two accompanying persons.<< Results >>First of all, we expect that this project will cultivate individual well-being and resilience capacity of youth workers and young people that youth workers are working with, and especially of those with fewer opportunities. Furthermore, youth workers will learn how to better understand their needs and how to utilize self-care practices both as a prevention tool but also as an emergency plan to protect them from or to treat burnout. This will support youth workers' capacity to cope with the intensity and load of work and to build systems that are resilient and that can function in a sustainable way even in the face of adversity such as recently experienced pandemics. Moreover, by developing skills for mindful leadership and facilitation of social change, youth workers will be able to better understand young people and their needs and in that way empower them to take care of themselves and to engage young people in initiatives that can create a positive impact in their communities. Thus, we believe that this project has a ripple effect since the positive impact will not only be on youth workers but also on young people and through their actions the impact will expand on other members of their communities because when communities and environments change positively this in turn positively influences individuals in the whole community. We believe that this project will provide partner organizations with valuable tools that can contribute to a higher quality standard of work among youth workers and that a new found sense of confidence and power coming from within youth workers can increase their likelihood of networking across borders which can positively influence society on the European level. Finally, this project will promote social inclusion, diversity, active participation in public life regardless of people's backgrounds and circumstances, environment-friendly lifestyle, methods of experiential and non-formal learning as well as mindfulness as a methodology for personal and social advancement. Further we aim to foster skills that may increase participants’ employability and strengthen resilience of partner organizations."

<< Objectives >>By implementing this project, we aim to achieve several objectives. Firstly, we want to improve the capacity of organizations and youth workers to create a more inclusive environment for young people with ADHD. This will be achieved through the development of a comprehensive Toolkit Material and subsequent Training and Capacity Building activities. Secondly, we want to provide a resource for youth with ADHD in the form of an activity book. Thirdly, we want to raise awareness about ADHD.<< Implementation >>The project activities are designed to improve the capacity of organizations and youth workers in creating an inclusive environment for young people with ADHD. These activities include the Research & Development of Toolkit Material for Youth Workers with a subsequent Training and Capacity Building activity, the development of an activity book for youth with ADHD, a campaign to raise awareness during ADHD awareness month, and communication and dissemination of project results. << Results >>The results of this project will be:1. Development of a comprehensive Toolkit Material for youth workers about young people with ADHD (YOU FOCUS Toolkit)2. Training and Capacity Building for youth workers in order to enhance their skills when working with youth belonging to this disadvantaged group. The training will be led by 2 experts and will be based on the Toolkit Material.3. Creation of an activity book for youth with ADHD4. Raise awareness during ADHD awareness month (October 2024)