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 >>EU initiatives in the field of school education, including using non-formal learning in formal education, to support teaching innovation, by enhancing both the teachers’ continuous professional development and students’ key competencies development. At the same time, in today’s rapidly changing world, there are some key competences that children need in order to thrive at school (critical thinking, learning to learn, etc.), but don't actually practice every day in their lives; so, most kids will never really hone those skills. Experiential learning is the best paradigm of educational innovation and transferring of a non-formal learning method to formal education. More specifically, experiential learning is an educational philosophy that seeks to draw on students' experience to learn. It's basically the opposite of textbook-based learning. By taking things out of the classroom and bringing them into a real-life context instead, kids can actually learn the information they're being taught in school in a way that's more interesting and involves hands-on learning.Through our project we will cover the following needs:For teachers:- Initiatives that will facilitate their job: Through our suggested experiential activities, the students will be more concentrated and focused in the classroom, and they will diffuse their energy in the experiential activities and thus, they won’t be disruptive, facilitating the teachers’ job- New didactic methods that will make their lessons more attractive to students: With our project’s activities, the participating teachers will have the role of a “tutor” or “facilitator”, instead of the “lecturer” that many times loses his/her audience- Upskilling opportunities: The participating teachers will gain significant experience in experiential learning, and will be able to learn new pedagogical approaches that will accompany them for the rest of their professional life. They will also be the recipients of a knowledge transfer from educators specializing in non-formal education.For school principals:- New training approaches that will make the school more attractive to not only students and their parents, but also to teachers that seek an innovative workplace: After the completion of our project, the participating schools will have the opportunity to install new innovative approaches, pedagogical methods, and training initiatives that will bring something fresh to the school environment, attracting more students, parents, and teachers than before- Innovations which allow them to be characterized as a “model school” or help them to later claim the title of “experimental school”: After the completion of our project, the management of the participating schools, will have the appropriate tools to further develop them, in order to claim the title of “model” or “experimental” schoolFor High-school students, aged from 15 up to 18, including students with learning disabilities:-Motivation, in order to take a more active part in the learning process: By taking things out of the classroom and bringing them into a real-life context instead, the participating students will learn in a way that's more interesting and involves hands-on learning.-Being activated and learning always new things: With our activities, the students will get out of their comfort zone and take part in innovative training through games-Acquire key competences: Our project will improve their key competences with particular emphasis on critical thinking, learning to learn as well as civic competences, through their participation in experiential learning activities. This will also help them develop the soft skills that will be necessary not only for their secondary studies but also for their long run.-Feel comfortable in the school environment: With the suggested experiential activities, students with learning difficulties will be more active in learning, reducing the chances of early school leaving as well.<< Objectives >>Through our project we aim to:1. Increase awareness of experiential learning as a non-formal educational practice2. Test and implement experiential learning methods derived from non-formal education to formal school education3. Improve students’ key competences with particular emphasis on critical thinking, learning to learn as well as civic competences, through their participation in experiential learning activities4. Improve teachers’ skills and enhancing their practical experience through the usage of new pedagogy methods5. Transfer knowledge among school teachers with formal educational background and educators specializing in non-formal education<< Implementation >>During the project's lifespan we are going to implement:4 Transnational Meetings:During our project, 4 TPMs are going to be conducted in the most crucial months of the project. Each meeting is designed in order to cover the basic needs of the partners for:- Understanding the project and getting to know each other (kick-off meeting)- Design the PR1 (kick off meeting)- Design the PR2 and the LTTA (2nd TPM)- Design the PR3 (3rd TPM)- Learn the final tasks and activities in order for the project to close and design the Multiplier Events (Final Meeting)2 Multiplier Events:At the end of our project, the responsible partner for the dissemination will organize a big event in Estonia for the dissemination of the project’s results. In parallel, the partner that will host the LTTA will also organize an event in Poland in order to “spread the word”.1 LTTA:During the LTTA, each partner will send one trainer of non-formal education from inside their organizations to be trained upon experiential learning techniques that apply to formal education and, more specifically, to develop students' key competencies.2 Knowledge Transfer Trainings (one for Teachers and one for Students)We are going to implement two knowledge transferring training: one for peer teachers and one for the students. Upon their return, the LTTA’s trainees will be the trainers of school teachers that want to be educated in Experiential Learning. Thus, in each country, 5 school teachers should be trained (30 teachers in total). The training will last for 3 days, 4 hours per day. After having trained the school teachers for 3 days, the non-formal learning educators will also train high school 5 students as well (30 students in total), for 2 days, 4 hours per day. Among the 5 students per country, at least one of them (at least 6 students in total) will be learners with learning difficulties. The Learning material for both will be the theoretical and Methodological Framework (developed under IO1), the experiential learning activities (material developed under IO2), and the experience and knowledge acquired during the LTTA.<< Results >>Our project will produce 3 main results:A Theoretical and methodological framework of applying Experiential Learning in Formal Education, that will provide to teachers, new didactic methods that will make their lessons more attractive to students and Upskilling opportunities, since they will be able to learn new pedagogical approaches that will accompany them for the rest of their professional life. Also, we will equip schools with new training approaches that will make the school more attractive to not only students and their parents, but also to teachers that seek an innovative workplace and innovations which will allow them to be characterized as a “model school” or help them to later claim the title of “experimental school”. A Repository with Training Material and activities of Experiential Learning, which will empower the participating teachers to have the role of a “tutor” or “facilitator”, instead of the “lecturer” that many times loses his/her audience and will gain a significant experience in experiential learning, and will be able to learn new pedagogical approaches that will accompany them for the rest of their professional life. Knowledge Transfer on Teachers and Students, that we will motivate teachers and students, in order to take a more active part in the learning process. By taking things out of the classroom and bringing them into a real-life context instead. Also, they will get out of their comfort zone and take part in innovative training through games. We will also improve students’ key competences and make them feel comfortable in the school environment: With the suggested experiential activities, students with learning difficulties will be more active in learning, reducing the chances of early school leaving as well. Also, the students will be more concentrated and focused in the classroom, and they will diffuse their energy in the experiential activities and thus, they won’t be disruptive, facilitating the teachers’ job. Finally, teachers will be the recipients of knowledge transferring from educators specializing in non-formal education.