Hero's Journey: the power of storytelling for well-being & mental health

Hero’s journey: the power of storytelling for wellbeing is a 7-day Training Course that aims to equip organizations with the storytelling method for educating the youth at risk on how to take care of their mental health & well-being.

Why this project? 

The number of Adults Reporting Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder and/or Depressive Disorder is 4 times bigger than it was in 2019, and many elements are adding to it. Fear for your life and the lives of your beloved ones. Restricted social contact and the possibility to release any stress and tension. Prolonging lockdown. Submarine disease for people living in the same place. Income-connected worries. The list could continue endlessly.
Especially endangered are youth at risk, who are prone to mental health issues caused by their exclusion from society. They have even harder times now, and it is even more complicated for youth workers to support them if they can access them only in the online world.

Why STORYTELLING? 

Stories talk from our past, fears for our future, and high and low moments from our lives. We’re all more than just one dimension or one story. Simply listening to and acknowledging others' stories, helps to create a greater sense of well-being, reducing the risk of loneliness and stress. We like to hear these stories and share them because they give us hope and motivate us.

The Hero’s journey: the power of storytelling for well-being will focus on: 

• Equip the participants with the storytelling competence and its usage for educating youth at risk on how to take care of their mental health & well-being.
• Discover effective strategies for educating on mental health & well-being, both offline & online.
• Participants will have the possibility to: 
• Design and implement 12 workshops (during the TC) using storytelling methods for educating youth at risk on how to take care of their mental health & well-being.
• Identify, publish and promote stories that can be used for fostering empathy, understanding, and self-reflection to promote mental health & well-being;
• Share experiences and methods in youth work;
• Experience a variety of individual reflection and reflection groups;
• Self-care practices they will start to practice on themselves and later on can be introducing to their target group 
• Discover a different approach (methodologies, activities, tools) that can be used for educating the topic of mental health and well-being both offline and online.
• Experience different theater and body movement activities combined with the storytelling method

Structure of the project: 
- 2 Online preparation meetings
- Training Course
- Evaluation of the project
- Follow-up activities and dissemination 

Target group and team of trainers: 

• You are 20+ years old.
• You are a youth worker, social worker, trainer, volunteer in a youth organization, and/or student in social work.
• Willing to live, learn, reflect, experiment, and explore in a multicultural group through 8-10hs of daily intensive program.
• You are able to work in English.
• You are highly motivated and willing to actively participate during the whole project and put into practice your learning during the implementation period, follow-up activities. 
• You are interested in the usage of storytelling methods and have little to none experiences with it.

The team is composed of Beatriz Aroca and Itsaso Zaldibar.