Mental Health of Youth in the post Corona time

We applied for this project because in our daily work as youth workers we have noticed a sharp increase in mental stress among our clients and among youth workers. Not only have we noticed an increased need in our work, but also various publications, such as the European Youth Goals, 5th "Mental Health and Wellbeing", 6th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue 2017/18, have shown that the topic is in great demand. The pandemic has led to a deterioration in mental health. To prevent further deterioration in the mental health of young people and the youth workers who accompany them, methods and professional tools are needed to improve skills, enhance quality and increase recognition of youth work as an integral part of young people's lives. The project aimed to give youth workers more confidence in dealing with mental health and to minimise excessive demands due to lack of experience in this area. One of the aims was to provide the best possible support for young people in their environment, of which mental health is an important part. We also needed to train youth workers to recognise their own limits in order to protect their own mental health.

Firstly, we created a new (national and European) network and want to deepen this new network with another application. One aim was to improve the quality of youth work in the field of mental health. The improvement was achieved by sharing information (comparing scientific results in different countries) and learning new practical methods for working with young people. We were also able to gain a deeper understanding and first recommendations for the prevention work of our organisations. The aim was to gain a better understanding of how youth work can respond to the challenges posed by the mental health situation of (disadvantaged) young people, especially in the post-Corona period, through knowledge transfer, professional exchange and networking. Throughout the process we focused on both young people and youth workers in order to find sustainable solutions. In this way, we were able to gradually develop the first recommendations for working with young people in different contexts and for professionals. Through the two international meetings, the topic was discussed in greater breadth and depth, but also more visibly as a contemporary issue for professionals and society.

As proposed in the application, we carried out different types of activities: 10 local workshops with 73 participants (46% more than in the application) in each country: Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands. We also organised an international meeting with discussion rounds and a practical exchange in Lucca, Italy, in November 2022. This event was attended by 25 participants from all partner countries. Finally, we had a final dissemination and practical exchange meeting in March 2023 in Groningen, the Netherlands, with 17 participants. And we presented the project with its objectives and results during the annual event of the YES Forum 2023 in Vienna. This presentation was attended by 15 participants (with a short practical part). We also had several small online discussion groups with professionals in Germany. The aim was to get more information about the impact of mental health issues on young people in the different fields of youth social work and how youth workers can respond. All activities were accompanied by monthly online meetings with the partners and all information around the topic (useful links, background documents, etc.) was shared on a common Padlet.

Concrete results: Sharing of methods and approaches as a result of the national/local workshops; a small pdf file with tested methods (from the events in Lucca, Italy and Groningen, the Netherlands); we created a common Padlet with a lot of (background) information, methods, useful files and links. The project, its contents and working approaches were presented to a much wider public than expected. Especially the presentation at the event 'Treffpunkt 2022' and the feedback on it, we consider as a great success. We summarised the challenges and practical solutions in the field of mental health. All youth workers were empowered. On the other hand, we all became aware that mental health problems have a huge impact on young people, on youth workers and thus on civil society. A new network was formed, especially as we had not worked together in previous projects. This network has since expanded and now includes more contacts/organisations. Further information on this Padlet: https://padlet.com/ch_schubart/mhyt-documentation-of-activities-final-report-2023-spyul7xrney2rpw4