Over the last decades, social and emotional learning (SEL) has been increasingly acknowledged to impact on competency areas such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships skills, and responsible decision-making. Mindfulness training is a multimodal intervention informed by the principles of positive psychology, with a central focus on skills that enable more effective coping and stress reduction. The application of mindfulness-based practices (MBP) has been strengthened by the results of evaluation studies that typically report on the positive effectiveness of MBP in terms of SEL. In parallel, research results show that exposure to natural environments arouses positive emotions and stress recovery, and improves compliance to mindfulness training, making it more effective. As such, the role of nature in the workplace is receiving increased attention, and existing theory and research suggest that nature contact can be considered as a workplace strategy for reducing stress, while at the same time enhancing performance and overall well-being. Therefore, Mindfulness-in Nature-based practices (MiNBP) joins together the healing effect of nature and the distressful effect of MBP, with greater benefits. It is therefore essential for company’s managers to understand how MiNBP has the potential to benefit their staff towards a systematic approach to SEL, in particular when considering the perspective of the five-competency-area framework. The Mindfulness-in-Nature Based Training through Virtual ENvironments (MINDLIVEN) project aims to provide an innovative solution to this issue. Building on existing research, partners will identify a required set of needs in terms of preventing and addressing work place stress, leading to the development of a set of MiNBP contents supported by an online MiNBP platform with communication tools and additional resources (like an Android and iOS app to facilitate access to the platform and contents) to facilitate the transfer of learning into the workplace but also to create the MiNBP user support community. This e-environment will raise the awareness for the problem and it will enable owners, managers and decision makers to plan for and to mitigate the occurrence and the negative consequences of work-based stress. After the pilot testing the real impact of the MiNBP in the main competency areas and on the individuals’ life and on the companies’ productivity will be assessed and consequently a policy report and recommendations will also be produced. The project targets:- Employees and owners/managers of SMEs as end users and main beneficiaries. They will be empowered and helped to improve their personal & professional life by being able to prevent and address workplace stress; - VET trainers, HR and Health & Safety consultants will be provided innovative tools for assessing the situation with their trainees and clients;- Professional associations, that have an active role in the sustainability and maintenance of the results of the MINDLIVEN project;- Organizational Health decision makers and governmental entities at regional, national and European levels will be contacted in order to persuade and make them aware of the need for more immediate actions. About 260 direct stakeholders (managers, staff, owners of micro and small enterprises) will be directly involved through direct contacts and other project activities like the MiNBP user support community and another 240 will be involved through the multiplier events. The MINDLIVEN network will also include about 100 HR consultants, health experts and decision makers leading to about 600 stakeholders directly involved in the project. Through a vast set of dissemination and exploitation activities, the consortium expects to reach other 6000 stakeholders (from all the identified target groups). This wide and systematic European intervention, rather than a casual local/national approach, will allow the project outcomes to be tested on different cultural and socio-economic contexts, showing the potential transferability of results across Europe and allowing for a European policy adoption.Note: Bibliographical references for the context and background of the project are provided in an annexed document