<< Objectives >>It’s hard to overestimate the importance of youth work in Europe and the impact it has been making on the young people’s lives and their empowerment, fostering active citizenship and participation, social inclusion of youth as well as active promotion of common European values.Youth workers, being an integral part of this process and often acting as a role model for their target groups, need to meet a list of requirements from keeping up with the changes of an advanced and progressive society we live in and tracking and addressing the social issues arising in the community to acquiring new skills and competences in order to raise the quality of the services they provide.Erasmus + Programme and the Mobility of Youth Workers provides a unique opportunity for professional development of youth workers and establishing contacts with the colleagues all over Europe and beyond, gaining new competences relevant for today’s youth work as well as raising awareness about crucial issues of nowadays. Without doubt, youth, its development and well-being are at the bedrock of such activities. Yet, it’s essential to pay attention to the well-being of youth workers as well. Numerous researches show, that educational and social work sector have some of the highest number stress-related illnesses: acc. to European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Condition “stress was most prevalent in the education and health sectors, as well as in agriculture, hunting, forestry & fishing (28.5%). The largest group of employeeswho suffered from anxiety at work were those employed in education and health (12.7%) ”https://osha.europa.eu/en/tools-andpublications/publications/reports/TE-81-08-478-EN-C_OSH_in_figures_stress_at_work. Undoubtedly, it can result in an adverse impact on young people. Thus, according to european trade union committee for education “the impact of these illnesses on workers in education can result in the adoption of dogmatic and authoritarian measures, making the job routine and taking little initiative, absenteeism, depression and stress, requesting a transfer, and leaving the profession” (see pages 82-84 https://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/education/library/study/2013/teaching-profession2_en.pdf).There’s no European research showing the impact of stress exclusively in youth work, therefore we with our partners conducted a survey among volunteers and staff members of our organisations (among 50 youth workers) and found out that, around 52% of respondents experience stress on a daily basis, 67%- have thought of leaving the field at least once due to the stress it creates, 32% - feel under the pressure financially due to instability of work (dependence on grants and donations).Luckily, EU policy recognises stress as one of the main occupational risks (53%) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014DC0332&from=EN and is already taking measures in addressing this issue.Therefore we believe that it’s a burning issue at the moment and with this project we’d like to address the issue of stress among youth workers and focus on development of their well-being in order to address the quality of educational activities they organise. Furthermore, we would like to train youth workers on usage of stress-management tools in their work with young people in order to created a balanced learning environment for them and provide ready-to-use copying mechanisms for challenging life situations.Objectives:- to identify the stress factors which influence youth workers in partner countries - to equip participants with the theoretical knowledge on the nature of stress- to provide educators with the stress-management tools for personal everyday use (physical tools, art tools)- to learn how mindfulness can contribute to eliminating stress and learn about MBSR (mindfulness based stress reduction) techniques- to acquire concrete skills in time-management and learn how it can contribute to dealing with stress- to learn about stress-management tools which can be used in work with young people in order to address their study-related stress and develop their emotional intelligence- to train youth workers in using stress-management tools in youth work in different contexts- to share good practices in stress management in education and youth workThe project contributes to the following specific objectives of the Erasmus +: foster quality improvements in youth work, in particular through enhanced cooperation between organisations in the youth field and/or other stakeholders.<< Activities >>One activity will be implemented, which is a training course, 8 full working days, 21 participants involved. Participants will be coming from Russia, Slovakia, Poland, Malta, Estonia, Belarus and Ukraine, each national group will consist of 3 people. All participants are youth workers, who are working in this position for more than 2 years, facing difficulties with stress management and aiming to acquire skills of mindfulness, managing one's own stress and ability to concetrate and be fully involved into processes - thus avoiding burnout and leaving this work position, going into some other field.Criteria for selection:- Experience in youth work and active participation in the sending organization activities and work- Motivation to participate in 100% of the length of the TC- Shared expectations and clearly defined learning needs- Openness for and appreciation of non-formal learning process in highly diverse context- the deep need in stress-management tools due to demanding work conditions (cases of burn outs as well)- Motivation to explore the topic of stress management and address the issue of stress in work with the target groups- Commitment to go through the whole learning process, including responsibility for self-directed learning & learning outcomes, as well high level of motivation and discipline- Commitment to reflect on personal learning process and ability to critically assess learning outcomes- Commitment to follow up activities- Commitment to disseminate the project resultsAs a general approach we want youth workers first to experience stress management techniques and tools for themselves and then be able to adjust them for work with diverse youth groups active involvement of participants and recognition of their expertise and experience in certain topics, active sharing and participation in the discussions will ensure diversity and complexity of learning process. Moreover, as described in the programme of the activities we will try to valorise the experience of participants in everyday practices and encourage participants to contribute to facilitation of morning (yoga, sport) and evening practices (meditation). For permanent learning process awareness, trainers will organize daily reflection space groups where participants will share the most striking moments of the days, ask questions, write down important information, give and receive feedback. Moreover, during this particular course there will be enough space for self-reflection and self-exploration through daily rituals. Besides that, many of the tools offered will focus a lot on internal processes which are often underestimated. For group dynamics process that is found at such kind of activities a lot of emphasis should be put on the creation of a safe and friendly environment, providing the space and time for people to get-to-know each other personally and professionally in order for them to enter the intensive group learning process.<< Impact >>Participants of TC will gain knowledge on the nature of stress, causes and effects of stress in daily life and youth work, knowledge on the main factors producing stress as well as emotional and physical response to stress, knowledge on the local realities with stress-affected educators and stress-management in the local communities of partner countries involved in the project, knowledge on burn out as a extreme consequence of stress as well as symptoms of it. As a result of the project, their initiatives regarding to conflict handling, stress management and healthy lifestyle, as well as intercultural dialogue, including young people with fewer opportunities will be supported and hopefully further on - implemented.Capacity of youth workers to work and provide key tools for young people with fewer opportunities’ integration, intercultural dialogue and youth unemployment will be increased. Project will promote mental health and necessity to take care of one's own mind on a regular basis, just like brushing teeth or visiting necessary doctors which are dealing with physical health. Project will increase capacity of involved organizations and stakeholders to implement international mobilities and will open opportunity to do more E+ projects in Russia, since at the moment this destination is not popular at all.