Spark

Background Approximately two-thirds of young people have been exposed to a traumatic event by the time they turn 16. Experiencing a traumatic event can potentially affect their current and future mental health. Unfortunately, traumas are experienced in different forms, domestic violence, loss of a family member, illness within close family members, separation, and divorce of parents among other things. The primary obstacle in treating these recurring traumatic memories is that young people often experience difficulties verbalizing and expressing their trauma(s). Through this project, the main goal was to create new methods through which the young people receiving the service from the partner organizations will benefit from. All the young people who receive support from the partner organizations are considered as vulnerable due to the difficult events experienced in their lives. Through the use of arts, we enabled young people to use tactile materials to create symbols and images, bypassing the need for verbal language, and allowing for a better understanding of their emotions through the development of a visual vocabulary. Objectives We wanted to achieve the following results: - Young people to be able to process their trauma and express themselves, - Young people to choose their preferred method of expression, - Young people to be supported through a multidisciplinary team (youth workers/leaders and therapists), - Youth workers to acquire new tools to work better with young people, - Youth workers to create new integrated methodologies based on art, drama, and music, - Youth workers to understand better the individualized needs of the young people working with, - Youth workers to increase their motivation and energy, - An increase in the capacity of the organization, - Organizations to increase their effectiveness when working with young people who have experienced trauma, - Organizations to be able to reach more young people in need of their service - All the tools created to be disseminated so that other organizations and youth workers can use the tools in their environment. Implementation The following activities were implemented: 1. 3 transnational project meetings; the first meeting was held online, TM2 was held in September 2021 in Romania and TM3 was held in September 2022 in Slovenia. 2. 3 multiplier events have taken place; one in each country. During the multiplier event an overview of the project was given, first-hand experience of trainers and participants were shared as well as an in-depth understanding of the tools created. 3. 3 LTTAs were carried; The first LTTA was held in Malta and focused on drama, the second LTTA was held in Romania and focused on art and the last LTTA was held in Slovenia and focused on dance/body-movement. 4. In the four months following each LTTA, training participants carried out sessions with the young people based on the modality of the training they just attended. These sessions provided new tools and methods on how to reach out to young people who find it difficult to express their emotions and feelings through words due to different traumas they experience 5. In parallel to the sessions, the youth workers/leaders together with the technician, came up with different sessions. Through this we created a toolkit for youth workers with 180 different tools: 60 for each modality. Achievements The following results has been achieved: 1. Safe space was created for young people where they could freely express themselves, 2. Young people received all support needed in order to cope with grief in a best possible way, 3. By using arts therapy (drama, music and art), young people became equipped with important life skills that will help them to deal with heavy emotions in the future, 4. This project also increased the capacity of the youth workers involved in it. Thanks to this project, youth workers learnt how to integrate drama, music and art in their future work with young people, but also gave them new tools that they can use to cope with difficult emotions themselves, 5. All the tools that have been created through this project are disseminated through a published and online booklet. In the booklet, we presented the theoretical background behind using art, music and drama and its benefits when working with young people who have experienced trauma in their lives. The booklet also contains a step-by-step guide on how to implement the sessions created in different settings. Therefore, youth workers and organizations outside this project will always have full access to the information acquired during this project.