<< Background >>The project aims at providing wider access to inclusion programs for the youth at risk of re-offending (21-30 years old prison inmates or probation clients) through preventive work based on NFL methods. We want to address two specific topics - violent behavioral patterns and substance abuse disorders, both initiating and fueling unhealthy relationships, resulting in a major risk of social marginalization and self-isolation among this youth segment. By aiming to reduce the propensity of social exclusion of youth at risk of re-offending, we address the horizontal E+ priority of inclusion and diversity. The project’s goal consists of creating a network of youth workers trained to understand the importance of preventive education against recidivism of these youths at risk. As being equipped with competences and NFL methods, the youth workers will be capable of creating a positive environment for the target group, helping to build healthy relationships with themselves and others, attaining a lasting reintegration in society. The project links to the ‘E+ and ESC Inclusion and Diversity Strategy’ by complementing the lack of a coherent national strategy in Romania addressing the reintegration of the youth at risk of re-offending, hence tackling the social barriers encountered by former offenders who are enrolled. The project’s idea emerged after IPTA identified a concrete need to accelerate the reintegration of the youth at risk of re-offending, following 3 directions: (1) a doctoral thesis entitled „MEDIUL PENITENCIAR ROM NESC ȘI POLITICILE DE REINTEGRARE SOCIALĂ ALE FOȘTILOR DEȚINUȚI”, defended in October 2020 within the Faculty of Political Science, University of Bucharest, by one of our staff members, (2) interviews with the Directors of Jilava Penitentiary, (3) our own research and needs analysis in all three partner countries.<< Objectives >>The project’s objectives:O1: To increase the level of awareness and develop a proactive attitude of at least 70% of the youth at risk of re-offending (prison inmates and probation clients) involved in our project actions about the relevance of healthy relationships concept. Measured after each action, through questionnaire.O2: By the end of the project, 75% of the youth workers involved in the project will demonstrate advanced content knowledge of prevention & intervention work as measured by assessing outcomes on ex-ante and post project’s development.O3: To transfer the methodology created in at least 3 organizations/partner and to involve min. 50 participants per organization in local activities.<< Implementation >>We plan three key activities:- Two learning mobilities dedicated to 36 professional youth workers on reintegration programmes. Each of the two learning mobilities are designed for six youth YW/partner, with different participants in both events.- An extensive reintegration manual covering all relevant aspects needed for delivering educational work focusing on the preventive segment for youth at risk of re-offending. The manual will be a tool that could be used by YW and other professionals with a background in education, social work, psychology, addictology and counselling, with good results. If used by YW equipped with competences in delivering prevention & intervention work, the manual will be a powerful tool for addressing a large variety of risks of developing a violent behaviour or an addiction;- Local activities for at least 450 prison inmates and probation clients (150/partner), the final direct beneficiaries of the project, developing simultaneously a high level of understanding of the social exclusion risks associated with violent behaviour and substance abuse disorder. Moreover, project beneficiaries will understand the unseen aspects of the development of a violent behaviour, but also addictions cycle and which are the tools through which these aspects manage to keep hostage vulnerable young people.<< Results >>- Creation a network of 36 youth workers who will be involved in two intensive training programmes where they will learn about how to deliver NFL based methods of reintegration work. Mainly, the YW will understand better the traits of their group of inmates and probation clients and will have an advanced knowledge to inoculate a preventive attitude towards violent and addictive behaviour, addressing the concept of adverse childhood experience (ACE), in order to find the roots of the deviant behaviour by focusing on the traumatic events from childhood;- A very good understanding among the vulnerable young people of the connection between ACE and substance abuse, violent behaviour on one hand, and the risk of social exclusion and its effects (such as high risk of unemployment, developing unhealthy relationships) on the other hand;- Youth at risk of re-offending involved in the local activities will increase their decisional self-confidence in relation to the prevalence of addictive, violent behaviour patterns and they will adopt a conscious and critical attitude towards them. Also, they will understand that there is a real interest over the subject at UE level, realizing that their active reintegration in society is important. Furthermore, the project promotes a healthy and proactive attitude of these young persons, so that they promote the educational message in the circles of friends, families to which they belong.

"<< Objectives >>Project ""Kindness is our Superpower!"" aims to promote kindness & sense of belonging among pupils in primary schools. Its main objectives are to develop a methodology based on Gestalt to empower teachers to foster sense of belonging among pupils,to create an interactive handbook for dissemination & evaluation of the project & to carry out activities within the methodology. Project aims to improve pupils' well-being, academic performance & to create a culture of kindness and inclusivity in schools<< Implementation >>The implementation of the project ""Kindness is our Superpower!"" will involve various activities, including the development of methodology based on Gestalt to empower teachers, the creation of an interactive handbook for teachers and the implementation of multiple activities within the methodology, such as solution rooms & theatre performances. The project will also involve training and supporting teachers in implementing the methodology and evaluating the effectiveness of the project's results.<< Results >>Kindness is our Superpower! project aims to achieve several results, including increasing the sense of belonging among pupils, improved communication & cooperation between teachers & pupils and decreased bullying & exclusion. We also expect to see an increase in teachers' competencies related to fostering kindness & a sense of belonging among pupils & increased use of Gestalt-based approaches in the class. Ultimately, we hope project will contribute to a more positive & inclusive school culture."

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.

"""Re-Inclusion is important"" is project which will be realized under the ERASMUS+ Program.The project fulfils needs of young people who are returning from their long-term and short-term volunteership projects within the ESC and responds to the needs of their supporting organisations so that they can better do their role.When get home, volunteers have different needs and even problems sometimes. During the project they go through change: they live in a new society, their personality changes. In fact, volunteer comes home with ""new integrity"": this means that they often have new personal values. However, they return to the family and surroundings from which they come. Often upon return, this value differs from the values of the environment and not always participants are able to tell what exactly have been changed after ESC volunteering. Sometimes they lack the courage to start change and implement dreamed projects or they lack local support. Such situations cause that some participants do not continue work on themselves and return to the same level before volunteership. Lack of understanding and support also make them even more excluded from local social and public life.We came to such conclusions after research through Polish organizations, with whom we collaborate and after few Zoom-meetings with former short-term and long-term volunteers of one of the project partner organization..Organizations confirm that not always the existing template fits to the particular volunteer needs and it is not easy to define such volunteer's needs after return. As a result personal development of those people pauses to continue. Often supporting organizations do not track the development of sent volunteers or they use standard methods in conversations ""upon return"" with each of them, thus lose volunteers individuality and unique needs. The difficulty in fulfilling the function of supporting organisations responds to a number of factors: the volunteer role in the project, the degree of partnership in the project, the residence of the volunteer upon return, nature of the relationship with him/her, etc. Above all, however, there is a lack of interesting tools for needs diagnosing of volunteers upon returning (after a series of evaluations, the use of the same methods is tedious for them). Based on those tools we can support volunteers when returned in a tailored and appropriate way with a proportionate commitment. Supporting organisation spends time with volunteer and often it is too short (both ""before"" and ""after""); relationships are different and there are needs in methods to overcome these difficulties.These are the aims of our project:1) Knowledge deepening of volunteers needs, problems and challenges after they return home/return from their projects.2) Adapting of existing and creation of new tools for Youth workers to help them identify volunteership needs upon return and support other volunteers.3) Adopting process improvement and reintegration into society of former/returning volunteers.4) Awareness raising of the partner organisation role to increase quality of ESC projects.After the project is over we expect next results:1) Prepared manual in English contains tools for evaluating and helping volunteers after returning home, which will help youth workers to understand better volunteerships, assist and support the needs of volunteers in the process of adaptation and clarify the importance of personal development continuity. 2) A website that will help volunteers to facilitate the process of adaption and reintegration into society and to understand the place of personal development process by creating a new e-learning tool.3) Cooperation between youth and non-formal education organisations and institutions.4) Youth workers knowledge increasing for young people needs (former ESC projects participants).5) Knowledge increase of youth workers participating in staff training program of the adaptation support tools which support participants of the ESC projects.6) Easier adaptation for ESC project participants when they return home.7) ESC projects quality improvement.We'll be able to achieve the results through the project's activities. It will be the blended mobility of young people and a Short-term joint staff training event on volunteer's support after returning from ESC projects. We will also prepare a guide contains tools for evaluating and helping volunteers upon their return and will create a new e-learning tool for volunteers returned from ESC projects."

Mental disorders are the fastest growing category of diseases health systems must cope with. During childhood and adolescence the development of cognitive, social and emotional skills goes through its crucial phases. Quality education promoting emotional, social and cognitive development of youth is recognized as the core tool for successful interventions for promotion of long term wellbeing and mental health. School is the arena where students engage with a broad range of meaningful experiences that helps them build their sense of identity, interpersonal relationships and develop emotional intelligence, resilience and self-control. Mental health and wellbeing of teachers is also of key consideration. Educators face a number of emotions when they relate to pupils, and continuous support is essential, together with professional development. Educators are required not only to teach their own curricular subjects, but also to support students whose personal, behavioral and educational difficulties may be rooted in their difficult situations (abandonment, displacement, social exclusion), social inequalities and emotional distress. It is fundamental to support educators by providing them with tools to foster the mental wellbeing of students, preventing and addressing behavioral disorders, self-destructive behaviors and long-term consequences, such as early school leaving.The ONCE UPON YOUR TIME project will develop and introduce to teachers and educators an innovative methodology aiming at enhancing students’ capacity to integrate skills, attitudes and behaviors that will help them deal effectively and ethically with daily challenges and to form positive identities.The objective is to provide tools and training opportunities for professionals and, by so doing, create educational opportunities that effectively support students’ mental health and wellbeing. The project aims at harnessing the vast educational potential of storytelling and biographical work to tailor it to the emerging needs in the formal education sector and provide a powerful and effective methodology to teachers and educational professionals. The project objectives are to:-reinforce the response of the formal education sector to current challenges and priorities; -develop training opportunities and innovative outputs to be disseminated across the formal education sector, to guarantee improved capacity and know-how of the teachers and educators;-create an innovative curriculum granting teachers and educators specific competences and methods to identify and support students’ identity formation and to address problematic behaviors and strong emotional responses;-create an innovative and inclusive educational approach promoting wellbeing and mental health of pre-adolescents and adolescent, with specific focus on students with fewer opportunities;-promote an educational approach to foster mental health through empathy, self-discovery and expression, creativity and innovation in pre-adolescents/adolescents and to support them in better understanding themselves and finding commonality with others;-promote a healthy framework at the emotional level in the classroom and educational community, creating a healthier and more effective learning environment.The main expected result is the creation of an innovative and specifically tailored educational methodology based on storytelling and biographical work to be used by teachers and educators in the formal setting, to work with students between 11 and 16 y/o, aiming at fostering their mental health and wellbeing to prevent self-destructive behaviours and early school leaving. For that purpose, the project will create 3 concrete Intellectual Outputs:IO1-THE POWER OF STORYTELLING - framework - a research on storytelling methodologies, their application in the educational setting and best practices in promotion of mental and social wellbeing of students, followed by creation of an advocacy document, aiming at promoting such methodologies in the formal setting. IO2-YOUR STORY-MANUAL - a Manual with practices and exercises based on storytelling and biographical work, tailored to the target group of pupils and students, promoting positive self-perception and mental wellbeing. IO3-YOUR STORY-Pedagogical Curriculum - an educational model tailored to 2 target groups of students at the age 11-13 and 14-16, providing teachers and educators with a well structured path to be implemented in a class. A series of activities is foreseen to facilitate the achievement of set of objectives:- 4 TPMs to facilitate the cooperation and bridge the work of different outputs- 1 Joint Staff Training to transfer the knowledge developed in the project to the professionals in the formal education setting- 2 rounds of MEs to disseminate the project results- recording of “Impact Stories” video with the testimonies of teachers and students participating in the activities, to promote the impact of the developed methodology