About the project
Associazione Spazio Etneo is proud to have participated as a partner in the Training Course “YOUth Work Matters” coordinated by the association AIDE under the Erasmus+ programme initiavie KA1, which took place from 17 to 26 May 2026 in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania 🇷🇴.
🙆🏻 The project aimed to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and wellbeing in youth work, empowering youth workers with practical tools to recognise burnout risks, develop effective self-care strategies, and promote healthier and more sustainable working practices. Through non-formal education and international cooperation, participants explored innovative approaches to creating supportive environments for both themselves and the young people they work with.
🇮🇹 Our youth workers Ana, Asia, Francesco, Raffaele e Mattia represented Spazio Etneo with enthusiasm, actively participating in workshops, peer-learning sessions, intercultural exchanges, and wellbeing-focused activities. By sharing experiences and good practices with participants from across Europe, they strengthened their competences in emotional awareness, facilitation, inclusion, and sustainable youth work.
💡 The training programme combined interactive workshops, reflection sessions, peer learning, nature-based activities, practical exercises, and Youthpass reflection, enabling participants to develop concrete methodologies for integrating wellbeing into everyday youth work while building an international network of professionals committed to supporting young people.
Main Objectives
1) Raise awareness of the importance of mental health and emotional wellbeing among youth workers
2) Equip participants with practical self-care and burnout prevention strategies
3) Encourage the integration of wellbeing practices into everyday youth work
4) Promote non-formal education methods that support emotional resilience and wellbeing
Key Points
Outcomes & Toolkit
The toolkit “Emotions in Action: a Co-Created Toolkit for Youth Workers “ was created as a direct result of the learning process experienced throughout the training course. Rather than being prepared in advance, it emerged from the activities, reflections, facilitation practices, and collaborative work carried out during the mobility. It brings together methods facilitated both by the training team and by participant teams representing the partner organisations, making it a genuinely co-created educational resource.
The publication is organised into three thematic chapters that reflect the pedagogical journey of the training:
- Awareness – understanding emotions, hidden emotional struggles and self-awareness;
- Regulation – embodied methods, grounding techniques and emotional self-regulation;
- Power & Relational Dynamics – leadership, group processes, communication and collective storytelling.
Each activity includes its educational objectives, step-by-step facilitation process, reflection questions, learning outcomes, transfer to youth work, facilitation tips and emotional safety considerations, allowing youth workers, trainers and educators to adapt the methods to their own educational contexts.
Gallery
Partners Organizations
Spazio Etneo 🇮🇹 · Asociatia AIDE 🇷🇴 · YDCMA 🇧🇬 · MDK2 Piekary 🇵🇱 · INVEP 🇪🇸 · Viešoji Įstaiga Telšių Jaunimo Centras 🇱🇹
Social and Hashtags
#trainingcourse #ErasmusPlus #erasmus #EU #YouthOpportunities #OpportunitàGiovani #spazioetneo #projects #progettieuropei #corsodiformazione #erasmuslife #romania #youthworker #nonformaleducation #YouthGoals #YouthWork #CapacityBuilding #skills #nfe #SelfCare #BurnoutPrevention
