Mentoring Life: Small waves in the big ocean of change

<< Background >>The need from which this project started was initially that of the youth workers, who, following some discussions and a SWOT analysis, found that they need to be guided in the changes for which they motivate the young people and above all, they need to be offered an intervention strategy very focused on the current needs of young people. From here, we started to study the needs of young people during the Covid-19 pandemic, discovering a problem that has already started to be discussed at the European level - namely the fact that, in addition to the health crisis and the economic crisis, we are on the verge of a crisis of mental health (according to WHO reports, the percentage of panic attacks, anxiety disorders and depression has increased significantly, and already existing conditions have acquired an urgent character - depressive states being accentuated and suicidal thoughts also appearing). Other statistics identify depression as one of the main causes of disabilities or difficulties among adolescents and young people, limiting their possibilities to use their full potential as adults. Thus, we addressed both the mental health of young people, as well as the development of their ability to make coherent decisions. << Objectives >>O1. Increasing the involvement capacity of 1000 young people from 5 European countries (Romania, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland) in sustainable changes at a personal and social level, by developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, by implementing and maintaining a style of healthy life (physical, mental, emotional and relational) and by planning the educational and professional path, during a mentoring process lasting 6 months.O2. Increasing the quality of mentoring and guidance activities for young people, by training 50 youth workers from 5 European countries in the implementation of sustainable change programs and by developing an innovative methodology for change and development of critical thinking skills, healthy lifestyle and career planning for young people.O3. Increasing the capacity of 5 European organizations (Gamma Institute - Romania, Compacting - Portugal, CEIPES - Italy, Aspaym Castilla y Leon - Spain and IAiRS - Poland) in offering activities with a high level of quality, addressed to youth workers (through innovative methodology mentoring) and young people (through the sustainable changes program), in the context of changing the way of organization.All these objectives have been fulfilled. << Implementation >>Activity 1. Project management and implementation. The main purpose of this activity was to ensure the good implementation of the project, so that, through the sequence of activities undertaken, the 3 proposed objectives and all the quantitative and qualitative indicators are achieved and the project is completed without delays, being evaluated and monitored on during the 24 months.Activity 2. Transnational project meetings, with the purpose of management and negotiation and outline of the content. During the project, there were 4 transnational management meetingsActivity 3. Elaboration of project products – 3 products were developed and published: the Mentor's Guide, the Personal Development Toolkit and the Video Tutorial Kit. For each of these 3 products, there were several stages, including documentation, development, testing on the target group, impact analysis and final improvement.Activity 4. Staff training and learning activity - training that took place in Portugal and through which 15 youth workers were trained to become youth mentors. They, in turn, trained, at the local level, another 35 mentors.Activity 5. Multiplication events - 5 multiplication events were organized, one in each country, and in total they participated. The participants in these events were youth workers, representatives of NGOs and local public institutions, the media, personal development counselors and other specialists who work with young people in the field of non-formal education.<< Results >>The results obtained as a result of the project were the following:1.A strategic partnership focused on the specific needs of youth workers from partner organizations, which have increased the organizational capacity to work with young people, using various tools of non-formal education and personal development, but especially to train youth workers for to become mentors and to work closely with young people, in order to achieve a concrete, measurable change2.The Mentoring Life Manual - Guide for youth mentors - is a guide that was developed with the idea of providing a theoretical background, which contains valuable information regarding the 3 main topics covered by the project: critical thinking and problem solving, healthy lifestyle and career planning, as well as regarding the methodology of mentoring young people, aspects related to group dynamics or the use of graphic facilitation, as a non-formal method.3.The Small waves in the big ocean of change personal development program - is a collection of 63 practical exercises to apply with young people, sufficient for 6 months of mentoring and focused on the 3 topics mentioned previously. The toolkit published following the development of this program is addressed to youth workers, mentors and other specialists in the field of non-formal education and is an easy-to-use tool, with concrete explanations related to how to apply the exercises4.Mentoring Life online kit - is a collection of video tutorials addressed to young people and made by the mentors and young people involved in the project. There are 15 episodes, 5 for each of the 5 topics and they contain useful tips for developing those life skills.Curricula de mentorat Mentoring Life – este o curricula de training a lucratorilor de tineret pentru a deveni mentori si este elaborata in urma experientei trainingurilor la nivel local a mentorilor din proiect5.Web page with resources for youth workers and organizations in this field - contains downloadable versions of all the project's products, in English, Romanian, Polish, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as the collection of videos with subtitles in each language of the partnership.6.An international training of 15 youth workers who became mentors for young people and who took over the role of mentors for those from the local level as well. In total, there are 50 mentors involved in the project7.Workshops to test the personal development program, with over 500 young direct participants and over 1000 young people who contacted the information from the project and the recommendations for change and concrete actions for personal development8.5 multiplication events held and more than 200 youth workers and specialists in the field of non-formal education and personal development of the young participants, who received the results of the project and its publications.