Shaping Life: Innovative pathways for a healthy lifestyle in adult education

The main aim of the project "Shaping Life: Innovative pathways for a healthy lifestyle in adult education" was to educate adults from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, in order to ...

The followed objectives in this project were: O1. Increasing the wellbeing level through the development of a healthy lifestyle for minimum 900 adults from 4 european countries (Romania, Italy, Spain and Portugal) during minimum 6 months of intervention program implementation. O2. Increasing the adult educator's capacity to help their target group in implementation of a healthy lifestyle (reducing anxiety, depression, burn-out, career issues and parenting challenges), through the development of an innovative curricula and training for 45 adult educators as coordinators for support groups for adults. O3. Capacity building for 5 european organisations from Romania, Italy, Spain and Portugal, in the adult education field to offer qualitative support services through an innovative methodology based on peer-learning, support groups and active involvement in comunity's life of all people (adults, adult educators, organisations, training schools). These objectives are under the big umbrella of the main aim of the project - to educate adults from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, in order to achieve psychological life skills to develop and implement a healthy lifestyle, even in difficult conditions, as pandemic or war.

During the 24 months of the project, we implemented the following activities: 1. Project management and implementation - AICSCC coordinated the project with the collaboration of partners, and used methodological tools for planning the activities and tasks to each member of the project team. 2. Initial lauching events - 5 opening small events of the project (each partner decided the date and the format of the meeting, but it were in the first 3 months of the project. The partners chose to do internal meetings and also to send newsletters to their stakeholders in order to announce that the project started and what are the proposed objectives and activities. The methodology used it was part of the DEOR plan, in which each partner established their own indicators, according to their internal procedures regarding projects launching. 3. Transnational meetings - the purpose of these 3 meetings face to face and one transnational meeting online was to ensure the fulfillment of all objectives and the development of activities according to the established plan. 4. "Shaping Life" Project results - Adult Educator's Manual and Healthy Lifestyle Intervention Program - the working methodology was adapted from the methodology of a scientific research in the socio-human field, following all the steps of this process: documentation and writing a research report, elaboration, testing, improvement of weaknesses, product launch and its description. 5. Development of the website - is a separate webpage, which promotes both project results and all the resources in a digital version, in order to have a green approach. 6. Short-term staff training - is a training of staff of the 5 organizations, in order to develop their skills to apply the methodology in daily activities with adults - 15 adult educators as participants in the international training and other 30 participants in the national trainings. 7. Multiplier events are organized by each partner all 5 having extensive experience in organizing conferences Multiplier events are organized by each partner all 5 having extensive experience in organizing conferences.

The main outputs and results of the project, followed the structure we proposed in the application form, with some miletones: 1. A strategic partnership focused on the specific needs of adults in partner organisation with the goal to work with adults facing difficult situations, using various non-formal education tools, but especially to advise adult educators to become mentors and coordinators of support groups and work closely with small groups of adults, for a change focused on concrete, measurable results. 2. "Shaping Life" Adult Educator's Manual - as a starting point of the intervention and as main theoretical framework of the personal development program and exercises for the support groups sessions. The manual was elaborated in a scientifical method, but using a more common language, in order to be accessible to adult educators with all kind of backgrounds, not only to psychologists (because the topics are specific to psychology field). 3. "Shaping Life" Intervention Program for a Healthy Lifestyle on adults - a toolkit with the format of a collection with 105 exercises that can be applied in support group sessions with adults facing problems as anxiety, depression, burnout, parenting issues and career planning difficulties. 4. Web page with resources for adults and adult educators. Adults, adult educators and organisations can come in to update themselves with new information, The website will also functions mainly as a counseling and coaching platform for adult educators, through which they can access the bibliographic resources in the field of adult and nonformal education, can have access to the worksheets in the program and to the documentation scientific background, psychological and non-formal education. During the project the website had the main aim to hold the project results, but in the sustainability plan, we included some uploadings of other useful materials for the adult educators. 5. A training (short-term joint staff mobility) of 15 trainers / adult educators from the 5 partner organizations, which deepened the way they become mentors/ support group coordinators for the adults involved in the testing phase. After the completion of the training, they are able to guide an adult from the stage of identifying a need, of establishing one objective of change and up to the stage of evaluating the results of change and planning the future. They learnt elements of group dynamics, but especially tools through which they can constantly motivate adults for a more active involvement in the life of the community they live in. 6. A group of 900 adults from 5 European countries, became aware of the strategy for achieving a high level of wellbeing through a healthy lifestyle 7. 5 multiplication events, one in each country, addressed to adults and especially to adult educators and stakeholders, but also to people interested in adult education, non-formal education, preventive psychoeducation and personal development.