<< Objectives >>By implementing this project, we aim to achieve several objectives. Firstly, we want to improve the capacity of organizations and youth workers to create a more inclusive environment for young people with ADHD. This will be achieved through the development of a comprehensive Toolkit Material and subsequent Training and Capacity Building activities. Secondly, we want to provide a resource for youth with ADHD in the form of an activity book. Thirdly, we want to raise awareness about ADHD.<< Implementation >>The project activities are designed to improve the capacity of organizations and youth workers in creating an inclusive environment for young people with ADHD. These activities include the Research & Development of Toolkit Material for Youth Workers with a subsequent Training and Capacity Building activity, the development of an activity book for youth with ADHD, a campaign to raise awareness during ADHD awareness month, and communication and dissemination of project results. << Results >>The results of this project will be:1. Development of a comprehensive Toolkit Material for youth workers about young people with ADHD (YOU FOCUS Toolkit)2. Training and Capacity Building for youth workers in order to enhance their skills when working with youth belonging to this disadvantaged group. The training will be led by 2 experts and will be based on the Toolkit Material.3. Creation of an activity book for youth with ADHD4. Raise awareness during ADHD awareness month (October 2024)

Bullying, defined as the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another individual, physically, mentally or emotionally, is widespread in schools throughout the world. Available data consistently indicates that bullying is common in a wide range of countries and affects a considerable number of children and adolescents (School Violence and Bullying, Global Status Report, Unesco, 2017). In the 2016 UNICEF U-Report/SRSG-VAC opinion poll to which 100,000 young people in 18 countries responded, two-thirds reported that they had been the victim of bullying. Modern technologies are still not recognized as an educational tool by psychologists and youth workers. They can be a powerful tool to present the youth with some new perspectives and ideas, mostly because they are media canals of the new generation, that are intrinsically interesting and attractive to young people and can provide users with an immersive experience that is hard to induce by traditional methods. It is shown that virtual reality (VR) is very effective in inducing the feeling of empathy – it helps users to live in to the situation more than when it is presented through conversation or through a traditional film. According to researchers at the University of Warwick, virtual reality games could help children to better understand the consequences of victimization and bullying at school and to empower them to counter bullying. Other advantage of VR technology when used in youth work is that it allows the introduction of “gaming” factor into the scenario to enhance motivation of the participants and to make the video material even more interactive and engaging. It can be used for training of various skills, including psychosocial: in the VR safe environment, young people can rehearse how to react to stop the bullying and be empowered in that way. This project is aimed at improving practices in youth work in the field of countering bullying, violence, segregation and discrimination amongst youth. This objective is achieved by development of an innovative approach of countering bullying amongst youth that is in line with the current development of modern technologies and that uses their potential. Through the project, we developed two intelectual outputs: O1: Comprehensive study of best anti-bullying practices in order to obtain overview of regional, national and European successful practices including procedures, methodologies and tools in countering bullying with the greatest focus on the use of modern technologies as a tool in youth work. The Study has been widely disseminated in order to be used by those stakeholders that work with youth in the field of countering bullying and discrimination, to provide them with services, design policies, action plans and programmes on EU level. Furthermore, Report has been used as a starting point for the development of new projects in the field of countering bullying. O2: Innovative tool for countering bullying, including VR videos, Workshop Curriculum and Training materials for youth workers, that enable youth workers’ high quality and more structured work in the field of countering bullying. An integral part of the workshop curriculum are innovative VR videos, developed through this project, aimed to induce empathy in young people for the bullying victims, helping them better understand the consequences bullying has on victims and empowering them to counter bullying in their environments. Target group of this project are youth workers from 4 participating countries who took part in producing previously described intelectual outputs, piloting them and disseminating them to the relevant stakeholders. 12 youth workers (3 per participating country) have taken part in a collaborative way in joint staff training during which the developed materials have been tested, revised and mutual agreement on its features has been made. The youth workers that participated in this training implemented national piloting of the materials afterward. This enabled them to use the developed materials in their everyday work and to improve their skills and competences when working with youth in area of countering bullying and discrimination. The expected impact of this project, among others, is in area of: awareness rising of the importance of quality work of youth workers in the field of countering bullying which leads to improvement in the social inclusion of bullying victims, raising awarenes in young people on the destructive consequences of bullying and empowerment of young people to counter bullying themselves. Urgent solutions to change the high rates of bullying are needed, and engaging, easily approachable and understandable immersive simulation with a fun in-built reward system to sustain attention is the first step in changing the students' perception of interpersonal relationships and consequences of bullying.

<< Background >>In 2018-2020, we implemented the MAYDAI project - Motivation and Youth Do an Innovation (Erasmus + program K2, 2018-2020), which included a research report on motivational factors of young people. The report also focused on barriers that prevent young people from engaging and volunteering. The young respondents stated that after the initial enthusiasm, there is a fear in the engagement, then the stress until it all ended in burnout and leaving the activity for which they decided.Mental health, which is the basis of physical health, is an important factor in working with young people. According to OECD statistics, 1 in 6 EU citizens suffers from some type of mental illness. Exhaustion, anxiety, depression, stress, burnout / http://bit.ly/euractiv_mental_health /According to the research by the Cleveland Clinic, world events have influenced parents' parenting methods so that children of the Z generation have not had the opportunity to develop psychological resilience through their own experiences, resulting in rapid enthusiasm and, on the other hand, rapid relief and stress. /http://bit.ly/cleveland_clinic/One of the solutions from such situations is to create a support for youth workers who are dedicated to the education and training of young leaders from the Z generation, so that they can lead them to prevent depression, stress, burnout and other negative mental health conditions.The introduction of new procedures, such as the introduction of virtual reality into the non-formal education, can also serve this purpose.Specific problems to which the project responds:1 / Young people do not have a psychological resistance to stress, solving responsibility and problems2 / Youth workers lack methodological support in leading and educating young leaders3 / Youth workers lack modern technologies that will enable them to better support and guide young leaders.<< Objectives >>Project objectives:1 / Improve non-formal education by introducing a method of using a virtual reality. Indicator: created simulations in virtual reality aimed at preventing the state of stress and burnout of young leaders.1 / Increase methodological support for youth workers for work with young leaders from various groups. Indicator: developed, verified and published methodology in 3 countries. 21 youth workers are undergoing pilot training led by non-formal education methods.2 / Support the implementation of educational blocks with the application of virtual reality in the education in youth work. Indicator: created manual for youth workers focused on the implementation of education using the technology of virtual reality.The project follows the Erasmus+ priority for young people: increasing digitization, strengthening education with digital virtual reality tools.<< Implementation >>Activities aimed at creating intellectual outputs:Output: A set of simulation activities in virtual reality focused on the prevention of stress and burnout when working with youth with case studiesOutput: Methodology of non-formal education of youth workers aimed at preventing stress and burnout in young leaders using virtual reality simulation activitiesOutput: Manual for youth workers how to implement educational blocks, methodology with simulation activities of virtual reality to work with young leadersPilot training to verify the developed methodology and a multiplier event aimed at disseminating project results.<< Results >>Results (intellectual outputs) after the end of the project:1 / Output: A set of simulation activities in virtual reality focused on the prevention of stress and burnout when working with young people with case studiesResult: Users of a set of virtual reality simulation activities will gain a new method in working with young people.Leading partner: SPACE s.r.o. / CZ /2 / Output: Methodology of non-formal education of youth workers aimed at preventing stress and burnout in young leaders using virtual reality simulation activitiesOutcome: Youth workers will acquire the competencies needed to train young leaders to prevent burnoutLeading partner: RMŽK / SK /3 / Output: manual for youth workers how to implement educational blocks, methodology with simulation activities of virtual reality to work with young leadersResult: Users of the manual will get a practical information on how to work with the methodology and virtual reality incorporated in it.Lead partner: SIRIUS / HR /

People working with vulnerable groups of youth are struggling on a daily basis with the problem of maintaining work-life balance. Youth with physical disabilities, behavioral problems or intellectual disabilities, youth from alternative care, NEET youth and minorities face difficult problems in their everyday lives that can trigger strong feelings of empathy, sadness, helplessness or anger in youth workers. It can be very hard for youth workers to get proper rest after work and don’t think about distressing problems that young people they work with face. Most jobs and many life experiences generate some degree of stress but it seems that this problem is exacerbated among individuals working in emotionally demanding environments. The professional sphere often spills over into worker’s private life, and worker experiences a burnout. In order to achieve work sustainability, workers should find a balance between work and private life. Considering that we are lacking tools to help youth workers to alleviate the stress and emotions arising from such emotionally demanding work, development of a modern tool that is easily applicable and simple to use is of utmost necessity.Youth workers who learn how to take care of their mental health will be able to teach these skills to young people they work with too. When adopted, these skills make our daily lives more meaningful and enjoyable, even when we are faced with difficult situations and circumstances. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a form of cognitive-behavioural therapy, an empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies with commitment and behavior-change strategies to increase psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility is the ability to stay in contact with the present moment regardless of unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, while choosing one's behaviors based on the situation and personal values. Studies show that psychological flexibility is associated with quality of life and mental well-being.Unfortunately, the traditional face-to-face psychotherapy is usually too expensive or inaccessible to youth workers working with vulnerable groups of youth, especially to those living in rural or poor areas. Computerized cognitive-behavioural treatments show promising results in treating anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as in development of healthy ways of dealing with stress. That is why this project will use this modern approach to enable greater number of youth workers to learn and implement basic principles of ACT treatment for their own self-development and in their everyday work with young people.The objective of this project is to introduce psychological flexibility skills into youth work practices with the aim of empowering professional capacities of youth workers that work with vulnerable groups of young people. As a result, they will be able to cope with stress more successfully, protect themselves from burn-out and transfer those skills to the young people they work with. This objective will be achieved by development of an intellectual output: innovative tool for increasing psychological flexibility that will consist of 2 parts: workshop curriculum that will be used in synergy with the mobile application containing short excercise based on the principles of ACT therapy. The app will be available for use in 3 different ways: individually by youth worker, individually by the young person, or in group work.Target group of this project are youth workers from 5 participating countries who will take part in producing the described intellectual output, piloting it and disseminating it to the relevant stakeholders. In the beginning of the project, 10 team members will take part in joint staff training where they will learn the basics of ACT treatment that will enable them to develop the content for the curriculum and the app. The developed materials will be tested and revised in the second joint staff training that will be organized for additional 15 youth workers who will implement national piloting of the materials afterwards. Through these trainings, youth workers will develop their own psychological flexibility and with the help of the developed intellectual output, they will be able to transfer these skills in a systematic and easy way to young people they work with. The developed curriculum and mobile app will be freely available in the project website and widely disseminated to other youth workers who want to develop better ways of dealing with stress and transfer these skills to youth they work with. The expected impact and long-term effect of this project is raising awareness of the stress that youth workers who work with vulnerable groups of youth deal with in their everyday work, of the importance of adopting healthy ways of dealing with stress and taking care of own mental health for lifelong sustainability, especially in such high-demanding emotional work.

In the context of transition from institutional to community based care of children, all CEE countries face the challenge of changing the institutional culture, re-training and continuing competence development of careers and foster parents who look after the children facing multiple disadvantages and being highly exposed to the risk of social inclusion. To facilitate the development of transversal (social, creative and recreational) and professional skills of the carers and foster parents, who must be able to facilitate group living, must be excellent communicators and advocates, have to know how to access a wide range of child protection and child care legislation information, and also have to be able to create a friendly and nurturing environment by mastering the domestic skills this requires, the present project addressed the following objectives:1. Development of professional competence of trainers of carers and foster parents by offering them training curriculum, training materials and best practice models to be used in their daily work.2. Development of the transversal skills of carers and foster parents by training them in fields such as: handling challenges, working with others, verbal and non-verbal communication, creative thinking, critical thinking, learning to learn, planning own work, problem-solving , etc.Besides the immanent development of project management staffs' competencies, 12 specialists (3 from each country, psychologists, social workers) have been trained in the project on how to use the Curriculum, the Training material and the Best Practice Database produced throughout the project. The transnational joint staff training facilitated not only the professional development of the participants, but will also promoted transnational cooperation and collaborative learning of specialists in child protection beyond the lifetime of the project and beyond the borders of the participating countries.Following the transnational training the specialists in each country have organised national pilot training, using (and testing) the materials developed within the project. The training took place at various locations in Romania, Hungary, Austria and Croatia, between February-April 2016. There was a huge interest in the training in each country, so instead of participants altogether (as foreseen in the project proposal) , a number of 154 carers and foster parents (30 participants in Romania, 75 participants in Hungary, 34 participants in Croatia, 15 participants in Austria) took part in the pilots, all of them appreciating and valuing the opportunity very much. Main activities to accomplish the project objectives were: 1) Needs analysis of the target group resulting in a transnational report on training and continuing development needs of carers and foster parents - The Croatian partner (Sirius) has been coordinating the process of needs analysis and provided guidelines for doing the research work. Results of research have been collected on Wiggio group and by e-mail. The guidelines - translated and used in all countries to collect comparable data and information - included a Methodology Guideline the the following annexes: 1. Questionnaire for the individual interview addressed to foster parents, 2. Questionnaire for the individual interview addressed to carers and educators, 3. Questionnaire for the individual interview addressed to other experts, 4. Desk research template, 5. Instructions for filling templates for collecting data from individual interviews, 6. Excel chart for summarizing findings. FINDINGS of desk research and 130 interviews taken in the four countries (41 foster parents, 68 carers and 21 other experts) are summarized and extensively described in the NEEDS ANALYSIS REPORT.2) Developing a CMS based website that will host not only project information and downloadable outputs but also a best practice database: The website is avaialabe at carecomp.eu , it hosts the best practice database, general information and all intellectual outputs of the project.3) Elaboration of a Curriculum and Training Material: based on the needs analysis the partners shared the tasks of developing a Curriculum and a Training Material that meets the most urgent needs of the target group. The units of the Training materials have been elaborated in national languages then translated into English for comparison, testing and peer evaluation. Pilot testing (see above) have been successfully done in each country. The training material units have been adapted and further improved based on the feedback received during the pilot training, then the final Training material has been translated into Croatian, German, Hungarian and Romanian, illustrated and graphic edited for an attractive design and printed, presented on multiplier events and other dissemination events. All language versions are made available on the project website.