"Listen"

“Listen” is a training course focused on deep listening and connecting to ourselves, other people and nature. It’s divided into four parts:

1. Listen to myself, during which we will focus mainly on exploring our minds, bodies, emotions, spirits as well as our strengths, dreams and values, building a stronger understanding of what’s deep inside us.

2. Listen to another person, during which we will develop skills of active listening, empathy, recognizing and reacting to different emotions, we will get to know, understand and practice basic techniques of coaching and non-violent communication.

3. Listen to the community, during which we will visit local changemakers and activists, involved in deep listening and serving the local community and we will build our own solutions for community challenges using the Design Thinking methodology.

4. Listen to nature, during which we will get more connected with nature, understanding its evolution, we will explore the potential of permaculture, studying solutions implemented in the training venue and experiencing it through designed hands-on activities.

At the end of the training course, the participants are inspired and empowered to create and implement actions at the local level. These actions are connected to the project topic and dedicated to young people as well as other youth workers.

GOALS AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES 

Through “Listen” training course, participants will (inter alia):

• Reflect about their core values, mission and vision of life, being more clear about what they want to achieve and how,
• Get to know different types of meditation, possible to use in daily work with young people,
• See the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and understand how it can influence our daily life,
• Develop their skills of empathy and deep listening - qualities of such great importance in work with young people,
• Learn to recognize different emotions and the information they convey to us as well as react in a proper way for our own emotions and emotions of other people, above all those of the youth they work with
• Get to know concepts of coaching and Non-Violent Communication and discuss how they can be used in their work with youth,
• They will learn and practice the use of specific techniques which can be immediately included in their daily activities with young people,
• Get to know real changemakers, people actively involved in listening, connecting and serving the local community
• Get to know basic techniques to create social projects which answer real needs of local communities
• Create adequate solutions for real social problems and check them with chosen users/potential beneficiaries,
• Connect to nature, learn to listen to it, observe, reflect and re-find their personal balance while being in the forest or other places in nature,
• Get to know concepts of permaculture, which includes all kinds of listening tackled in this training, reflecting how to transfer this knowledge and experiences to young people in order to raise a new generation of aware and respectful human beings,
• Learn to include nature in youth work, giving young people the chance to go outside and experience nature, building connections with it,
• Experience permaculture thanks to hands-on exercises in a real permaculture farm. They will get involved in farm work and see results of their actions, building understanding of how nature works and how we are connected to it,
• Get to know tools which they can use in their work with youth to connect young people to themselves, other people and nature
• Develop their sensitivity toward diversity, learn how to interact with people of different backgrounds, cultures and origin,
• Learn how to have a more balanced life in various meanings of this word: work-life balance, balance of emotions, body and mind, balance in relation with other people, balance in being in the city and having contact with nature

And more :)

During the training, participants will get to know very specific methods used successfully for many years in fields related to mindfulness, listening and building groups of youth, such as:

• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program,
• Non-Violent Communication,
• Coaching,
• Design Thinking,
• Permaculture.

Besides that, participants will be motivated to introduce changes in their own life and share the gained knowledge and experience with other people, especially the youth they work with. They will know where to look for more information and inspiration, they will have ready ideas for the dissemination of project results and a network of people who can support them during the implementation stage. 

PARTICIPANTS PROFILE

This project is dedicated to active youth workers (working with or for youth on daily basis), who:

• are open and willing to actively participate and contribute to the programme as well as fulfill the tasks given before and after the training,
• are able and motivated to attend the full duration of the training held in English language (10 working days + 2 days of travel),
• have motivation to develop social initiatives for young people and other youthworkers and implement them locally after the training, 
• are active and have motivation to implement what they have learned during the training course in their daily work with youth.

ACCOMMODATION: 

The training takes place at Żywa Ziemia (Living Earth), located in Zakrzewo, close to Gdańsk, Poland. Żywa Ziemia is a natural farm promoting healthy living, permaculture and sustainability (Żywa Ziemia's Facebook and website) . They provide shared rooms, multiple training spaces (including beautiful outdoor spaces, presence of animals and other living beings as well as solitude and natural surroundings reducing “city” distractions) and vegetarian/vegan food, partly produced in their farm.

COVID SITUATION: 

As organizers, we will make sure to meet any COVID restrictions and recommendations by the regulator, adjusting accordingly our program, accomodation, etc. In case a worsening of the situation impedes the offline training, we will either postpone the project mobility or organize its online version.