The project Youth Centres for Mental Health of Young People, identifies three key areas, namely support for youth workers, social inclusion and quality promotion in youth work. The purpose of the project is to empower youth workers with general knowledge and skills for recognizing young people in mental distress through selected priority areas, and to additionally train and provide them with information and knowledge in the field of first psycho-social assistance to young people.Youth workers in youth centres and other NGOs working with young people are reporting an increasing number of cases of young people in mental distress. Working in this field represents a major challenge for youth work, therefore it is first and foremost important to have an initial understanding of mental distress, which consists of three parts: the past, present and future. Quality youth work is crucial when dealing with mental health, as the youth worker is a trusted person of the young person who can research the past of the young person and thus find out where he/she sees a solution or way out of the problem. In fact, conversation is still the most universal tool in helping and intervening appropriately, yet youth workers need professional guidance to identify mental health problems and provide first psychosocial assistance to young people in youth centres.Based on the above described challenges, we decided to jointly address the topic of mental health of young people in youth centres and provide youth workers with a holistic and unified approach to solving the challenges of modern times, through implementing a strategic partnership project. As the current situation regarding the covid-19 pandemic deepens the mental distress of young people, the project is also a response to mitigate the consequences that the pandemic has brought both for the individual and for society as a whole on a global scale.The project stems from the fact that working with young people facing mental health problems requires from the youth worker: (1) expertise, (2) appropriate methodology and (3) networking with other professionals. Based on this, through the set project goals in the first phase of the project, together with experts and youth workers, we will conduct international training for »trainers of trainers« and train youth workers from partner organizations to design protocols/approaches to mental health interventions through first psychosocial assistance and develop a model of national training for other youth workers. In the second phase, the partners will conduct national training for youth workers in their national realities and train youth workers for first psychosocial assistance and the use of protocols in practice. In the third phase of the project, we will include 1 youth center in each partner country, which together with experts and other stakeholders will participate in pilot training in the use of protocols. As part of this, we will conduct local events with experts and other stakeholders in the field of mental health in the local environments of youth centres, which will result in the establishment of a supportive local interdisciplinary networks and testing protocols in practice with young people in mental distress. All other youth workers involved will take part in the national pilot, as intervision and supervision meetings will be held with the support of experts. The national pilot implementation will focus on the reflection, adaptation and improvement of the developed protocols. The main products of the project will be a module of national training for youth workers for first psychosocial assistance to young people in mental distress and 8 protocols/approaches to mental health interventions for direct application in the practice of youth work.

The Council of the European Union adopted recommendations in the field of smart youth work in November 2017. The fact is that today we are confronted with a rapidly changing society, thus youth workers, working with young people, need additional knowledge to be able to be mentors to young people on their way to independence. With the project we addressed the challenges and opportunities offered by the digital age, we decided to develop a project idea into the project called Smart youth work in youth centres. With the project, we aimed to answer the questions considering challenges faced by youth policy, youth work and young people. Because the field of digitalization is not yet completely developed, we decided with the project partners from Estonia, Germany and Finland to define the tools, methods and competences we need to answer the challenges of smart youth work. Since technological development provides new opportunities for developing the skills and competences of young people, we have decided to connect with relevant organizations from abroad and prepare a strategic partnership project that offers opportunities for networking and interaction, expressing opinions, experience, and consequently active citizenship of all involved. We are aware that only well-informed citizens and young people can be active. With this aim, we approach the project of digital youth work in a new field of work, with new methods for working with young people in youth centres. Furthermore, we are aware that digital tools, which are used by young people and youth centres already exist, but the project is taking a step further and strives to will develop the competencies of youth workers and young people on a systematic basis. Thus, as part of the Smart Youth Work in Youth Centres project, funded by the Erasmus +: Youth in Action program, we carried out a study visit in order to view good practices in Finland. We also conducted international training for youth workers who are responsible for the development of programs in youth centres, where they will develop program content.During the project, we created a document with tools, methods of work and competences in the area of smart youth work. The set of practices will enable the development of youth centres and more effective work in addressing the contemporary challenges of the digital age. Consequently, the role of youth centres in the field of digital youth work was strengthened. Through the project and project activities, we also considered a part of the European dimension of digital youth work.The project has long-term effects, as we have developed a model for recognizing the competencies of digital youth work and thus also finding the strengths and weaknesses of youth workers in researching and reflecting on the current importance of digital youth work. The impact of the project is broader, sectoral, we are currently in a situation that contains the content of youth work moving to the online environment.

Need for youth surrounding community empowerment is essential in the current societal situation where risks of social exclusion, inability to find employment and sense of uselessness and idleness among young people are high. Unemployment, particularly over a long period of time, can lead to problematic political and social consequences. Without job security, young people become vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion. To take a more proactive approach, youth workers need to stay alongside young people, continuously upgrade their professional knowledge and skills, and conduct practice research in order to support young people more efficiently in overcoming the challenges of their transition to adulthood. Youth worker professionalism, supportive institutional profile and service design are essential in this process. Skilled professionals with relevant preparation and toolkit as well as multi-stakeholder partnerships at the local level are the key factors for successful results in youth work targeted to NEET youngsters. The need for multi-stakeholder partnerships brings new challenges and requirements to institutions profile. It is essential to think about what would be the profile of well-structured multi-stakeholders network and which should be the profile of a youth worker specialized to work with NEET youngsters? To improve services for NEET youngsters, the current situation should be analyzed, practitioners should evaluate themselves as youth workers and youth institutions in NEET supporting process and through this process find out an effective design of service that support NEET youngsters in the best possible way. As Youth Guarantee is a program covering the whole European Union, experiences, needs, problems, challenges can be mutually exchanged and discussed and solutions created transnationally. By sharing and comparing different experiences and practices, we can visualize the profile of a professional NEET youth specialized youth worker and profile of institution providing NEET youth service. During the Community Guarantee project the following activities were implemented: • Forming local level working groups and sustainable collaborations engaging relevant partners (e.g. different service providers, unemployment office, representatives from educational institutions, local government, representatives of employers, previous NEET youth, etc.) • 3 transnational project meetings for project partners • 4 international study visits for youth workers and specialists working with NEET youngsters• 1 international seminar in Estonia for youth workers and specialists working with NEET youngsters to discuss the collected knowledge and work on designing an efficient service model for the NEET youth • National study visits and local activities to evaluate and analyze national services • The final conference in Estonia as a multiplier event • Profile of an effective model of NEET youngsters support service completed as an Intellectual Output The aim of the project was to meet and analyze different realities and to create a functional profile of Community Guarantee – a document describing the concept of effective and multi-dimensional NEET youngster support service. Through common discussions, local and international study visits, practice sharing, collecting the best practices and noticing current weak points, researching case studies and theoretical material about NEET youngsters empowerment, profile manual was created. Different stakeholders gave their input through round tables, notes during study visits, seminars, questionnaires in order to build a practice-based and evidence-based model. The developed service model shows different aspects of one service, including behind the scenes parts of a service that make it work efficiently. The service model helps everyone to get involved in delivering professional and efficient service, as well as understand their role and ensure a coherent experience for the user. The final Intellectual Output of the project, Profile of effective support service for NEETs, is an electronic publication made available for anyone willing to provide qualitative services for NEET youngsters.

Youth participation requires involvement, inclusion and cooperation between various sectors such as governmental bodies, non-governmental organizations, youth itself and even the private sector. But unfortunately in post-Soviet countries, it is very difficult for young people to actively act, especially in the field of youth councils. The European experience is a way for non-EU countries to be more open to European values, learn the best practices and, on this basis, build their democratic activities at a qualitatively new level.The main aim of the project “Youth Councils - advisors or activists” was to provide young people with equal opportunities and experience which enable them to develop the competencies to play a full part in all aspects of society through expressing their needs, interests and visions. With our project, we helped them to raise the capacity of Youth Councils and to empower them through cooperation across the sectors involved in the youth field (public bodies - local municipalities, active youth non-governmental organizations and Youth Councils). The main aim had been achieved through concrete objectives:- raising the transparency of Youth Councils- raising the visibility and importance of Youth Council among youth- raising the civil and political participation of youth through Youth Councils- creating space for sharing knowledge and exchanging experiences, know-how and good practices in the field of participation and youth active citizenship;- creating space for building international partnership and planning future projects in the field of youth involvement in decision-making;- finding new strategies and inspiration on creating and supporting local youth initiatives;- learning new approaches and finding an innovative ways of communication between youth and local municipalities politicians/experts/- discovering the opportunities under structural dialogue- creating opportunities for starting long-term international cooperation (EU and Partner countries) in the field of youth participation and structural dialogue projects.During the project, youth organisations and youth workers were mainly focused on building a structured dialogue with decision-makers and public bodies. In order to create space for it, local activities, conferences and round tables with decision-makers and public bodies representatives were organised. But a big part of building that dialogue and raising the capacity of youth were done via exchanging knowledge, experience, good practices and know-how with other youth organisations. It’s important to add, that whole main idea of the project was related with capacity building of the partner organisations (through cross-sectoral cooperation, organisation of international and local events, training staff and other core members and also attracting and training of potential future members of the NGO through the activities with youth councils and the youth interested in the civic participation. Additionally, the project has increased the competencies of the youth workers and capacities of the organizations from different sectors working in the youth field, affirmed equity, active citizenship and stimulated replicating more international projects. Therefore, there will be an increased number of learning mobility opportunities for young people, or people involved in youth work.Our cross-sectoral and cross-national cooperation fostered quality improvement in Youth Council’s work on local, national and international levels, it also increased the recognition of non-formal and informal learning.The project also contributed in enhancing the international dimension of youth activities and the role of youth workers and organizations to support young people.

<< Background >>Circus ACT main aim is to ease the transition into adulthood of youth at-risk of social exclusion by strengthening their key competences and basic skills. The youth will take part in local social circus workshops with the aim of enhancing their emotional, physical, and mental health, improving their physical literacy, personal development and social growth and thus, helping them take up an active role in society. Youth at-risk- with a rate of 25.1% in Europe-CY 23.2%, SL 12.5%, HU 21.4%, 22.1 %, FI 24.5%, EE 18.6% (Eurostat, 2019) are those who are less likely to transition successfully into adulthood. Success can include academic success, job readiness, and the ability to be financially independent. It can also refer to the ability to become a positive member of society by avoiding foul play. Youth at-risk have often been orphaned, abandoned, neglected or abused, and as a result, often struggle with low self-esteem, trust issues and anxiety.Social circus is an innovative approach based on the combination of circus arts and social-pedagogy which aims to assist personal development and boost self-esteem and social competence of at-risk youth through circus instruction and performance. In addition to teaching general social skills such as leadership and teamwork, social circus connects people who might otherwise be socially isolated and presents a novel method for engaging disadvantaged youth. Of course, we cannot overlook its physical benefits as well as the fact that it promotes the acquisition of new skills, which has been shown to carry profound neurological benefits. Finally, participation in social circus performances has been shown to boost confidence and increase resilience by providing a safe avenue for adolescents to test physical limits.While many of the benefits mentioned above can also be achieved through other artistic and athletic activities, what makes social circus unique is the non-competitive setting it provides, the constant learning of new skills and the intersection of physical activity and the arts. Circus also allows youth to test boundaries in an appropriate and safe environment. Just like the road to maturity is full of trial and error, circus requires young people to persist through a series of failures until they inevitably succeed. Thus, the integration of this unique set of skills learned through developmental circus arts programs is disposed to equip youth with the resilience they need to be successful adults. (CBLI report: The benefits of social circus)The partnership consists of either research and educational organisations, youth organisations or circus/social circus organisations. Therefore, they have experience in diverse topics including social inclusion and youth work. The project is developed as a response to the common interest of the partners, and of the general educational community, in tackling the problem of social exclusion among disadvantaged youngsters. They expect to find out WHY even though sufficient efforts have been made through the decades to tackle this problem at European and international level, these efforts do not solidly progress, leaving youth workers powerless. At the same time, through an exchange of good practices and ideas they will gain valuable knowledge and experiences which will not only contribute to the personal and professional development of their staff, but also to the creation of an innovative and comprehensive training package. More specifically, P2, P4 and P5 will complement the social circus training they already offer, while for the rest of the consortium the main needs that will be addressed is to manage to bring together the skills of such a diverse set of partners in creating new curricula and expanding their training offer.Additionally, the need to expand previous partnrs works (such as in the CIRCUS+ project,) and knowledge in similar fields will be addressed.<< Objectives >>What makes social circus unique is the non-competitive setting it provides, the constant learning of new skills and the intersection of physical activity and the arts. Circus also allows youth to test boundaries in an appropriate and safe environment. Just like the road to maturity is full of trial and error, circus requires young people to persist through a series of failures until they inevitably succeed. Thus, the integration of this unique set of skills learned through developmental circus arts programs is disposed to equip youth with the resilience they need to be successful adults. (CBLI report: The benefits of social circus)Finally, social circus can be a powerful tool for promoting positive and meaningful interactions between individuals who are prone to social isolation, such as youth-at-risk. Additionally, the preliminary needs assessment conducted by the partners has identified gaps in the competencies of youth workers working with youth-at-risk (see annex 1)Therefore, with target group youth workers and marginalized youth (at-risk of exclusion), we propose a project with the following objectives:To ease the transitioning of youth-at-risk into adulthoodto provide youth-at-risk with both tangible circus skills and with the opportunity to perform, thereby increasing social cohesion and self-esteem.To bring together young people who are prone to social exclusionTo enhance emotional, physical, and mental health of young people at risk of exclusion To improve physical literacy, personal development, and social growth of young people at-risk To create social change helping young individuals at-risk take up an active role in society.To develop an educational tool for youth workers to help them acquire theoretical and practical knowledge of social circus pedagogy and support them in planning and implementing social circus learning activities as tool to help youth-at-risk transition into adulthood<< Implementation >>Our intention is to work at the highest possible level of engagement, to respect participants' different expectations, the pace of working and needs and carry out activities that will lead to the achievement of the project objectives and delivery of the planned results in an all-inclusive manner. Tasks associated with the project are divided among partners as followed:1. Project management: It is very important for everything to be implemented on schedule and to define specific and measurable objectives for the project in general, as well for every phase and activity of the project. This presupposes that all partners involved in the project have a deep understanding of its aims, objectives, results, activities, and phases. From the very beginning of the project, management, quality monitoring and evaluation of the project activities will be assured through the guidance on the agreed Project Management Plan (P1), Evaluation and Quality Assurance Plan (P5), Dissemination Plan (P6) and Sustainability and Exploitation Plan (P7). All the materials will be developed with the contribution of all partners to establish a strong foundation. These Plans will clearly state and set the rules of the project, the obligations of the partners, the allocation of tasks and responsibilities, the processes of mitigating risks, and many other management actions for the partners to follow. 2. Physical (TPMs) and virtual communication(e-mails, online meetings) will contribute to an effective monitoring of the project's progress. To promote environmental sustainability, the number of TPMs will be kept to a low number.3. Project Results: The mission of the project is to develop a methodology and educational package based on social circus pedagogy that will be used as a tool by youth workers who work with youth at-risk, and who struggle with transitioning into adulthood. An integrated approach will be used to accomplish this task. The consortium will start with the partners conducting a needs analysis via an online survey questionnaire. Although a preliminary needs analysis has already been conducted during the writing of this proposal, the survey will investigate deeper the needs of both youth workers and the final beneficiaries- youth at-risk. The data from both analyses will serve the base for the development of R1: Social Circus Curriculum for youth workers, and at the same time, the e-handbook with the video tutorials (R2) will be created to supplement the training course. All developed PR will then be incorporated into the e-learning platform (R3) of the project, which will be not only the online training platform of the project, but also a network platform for youth/social workers. R3 will also incorporate an Open Badge system which will help validate the knowledge acquired through the training. 4. 1 blended LTTA: consisting of 6-hours online training (via R3) and a 8-day face-to-face training event for youth workers (C1) who will be trained on social circus pedagogy and on how to use it as a tool to help young people transition into adulthood. The online webinar will take place before the C1 mobility, and will prepare the participants for the on-site training course.After the training, the trained youth workers will conduct a number of local social circus workshops for youth at-risk (IO4). When possible, the workshops, will be delivered by experienced social circus practitioners in collaboration with the trained youth workers. In this way, the youth workers, with the guidance of experienced practitioners, will be able to implement and practice what they learnt directly on a group of young people. During the preparation of the workshops, if needed, youth workers will also be supported through additional virtual meetings with the social circus experts of the consortium.5.6 multiplier events to deliver “Circus ACT” workshops and promote the project, its PR among its target groups and stakeholders (E1-E6)<< Results >>“Circus ACT” aims to create innovative educational tools, for youth workers to help them acquire theoretical and practical knowledge of social circus pedagogy and support them in planning and implementing social circus learning activities for youth-at-risk.Because of this, the emotional, physical, and mental health of young people at risk of social exclusion will be enhanced, resulting in a smoother transition into adulthood. The different expertise of partners ensures both the quality of the tools to be designed but also the dissemination of the project to the target groups.The project outcomes are directly linked to the project results and activities:1. “Circus ACT” educational Package including 4 interconnected educational material: R1: Social circus curriculum for youth workers who have no previous experience in social circus. The training curriculum will be complemented by R2 an e-Handbook which will include Social Circus Video Tutorials. Finally, the training package will be available through an online platform (R3). The platform will feature an “Open badges” system which will be automatically linked with the assessment process of the courses for recognition and validation of the learning process. The platform will serve not only as an online training platform but also as a network platform for youth/social workers. During the social circus pilot workshops (R4), the partnership will pilot-test the developed package with a group of youth-at-risk, the final beneficiaries, and produce a report.2. 21 trained youth workers (3 from each partner organisation) who will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge of social circus pedagogy through a blended training, during which they are expected to learn how to plan and implement social circus learning activities for youth-at-risk. The blended training will consist of 6 hours online training, in the form of webinars, spread into 2 days- through IO3 and 8 days face-to-face training (C1) 3. at least 100 youth-at-risk across the 6 partner countries , will participate in the social circus workshops (R4)4. 6 multiplier events to promote the project, its results and its outcomes among youth workers, youth-at-risk and other stakeholders (social workers, social circus practitioners, circus professionals, NGOs, youth organisations, Universities, incubators, authorities, other stakeholders) (E1-E6) Other results of “Circus ACT” project will be:1. Staff and associates of the partner organizations (youth workers, educators, mentors, careers coaches, etc) will learn about the educational tools created within the project. Expected number: 402. Young people (including youth-at-risk) will participate in activities within the framework of the project or become aware of it through dissemination activities and events including circus workshops and multiplier events. Expected number: 1503. Increasing everyone’s awareness of social circus pedagogy and its benefits for young people, especially young people at risk. Social workers, youth workers, professionals, NGOs, youth organisations, Universities, incubators, authorities, other stakeholders, etc will visit the project’s website and platform which includes all the educational tools (R1, R2, R3), and become aware of the project. Expected number: 1000Moreover, the project is expected to help youth-at-risk:-transition into adulthood-increase their social cohesion and self-esteem - get together with other young people prone to social exclusion- improve their physical literacy, personal development, and social growth - improve their emotional, physical, and mental health -Empower them to create social change by taking up an active role in society- learn tangible circus skills Additionally, the project also foresees a set of project management, dissemination, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination results.