Summary of MHUCP

During the pandemic we all experienced something unprecedented, a global pandemic during which we all had to be quarantined. During this time, we also experienced mixed emotions and went through various phases as full inactivity days lying in the bed all day and watching movies and days of fully functionality that we worked with our self and realized what we want to change on our life. Then, we realized that all we have the need to work with these hidden emotions and to release them in order to bring lightness in our hearts and continue with love and tender our journey in the life. Afterwards, among all these emotions we in ACPELIA trainer, PM but also the council of the organization decided for the implementation of this project so all of us and others to have the chance to see by themselves all the emotions that they have and work with them.

MENTAL HEALTH UNDER CRISIS PERIOD is a project which is going to utilize a lot of alternate, fun and creative indoor and outdoor activities,in order to meet its purposes. Through the implementation of this project we aim,primarily,to contribute to the development and involvement of young people from Europe while promoting the need for self-awareness and self-development avoiding any kind of discrimination. Specifically, the project wants to achieve to develop each one's self awareness,in combination with promotion of self-development in order to lead them taking the decisions that will provide them a more balanced and happy life.

Furthermore, it purposes to come up against the factors which depreciate the way we understand ourselves. Moreover, the implementation of this project aims to discover our strengths and to understand that hidden within every weakness are our strengths, so sometimes we must look at them from a new perspective. As we focus on ourselves and start evaluating our current behaviour, in comparison to our internal standards and values, we become self-conscious, and we become an objective evaluator of ourselves.

Another basic purpose of the project is to encourage youths to be as much as possible innovative. They will understand that self-development leads to innovation, innovation leads to success and success leads to further self-improvement. Those factors are interconnected. By implementing this project, we also aim to encourage people use their strengths and powers to overcome social problems like discrimination and social exclusion resulting from ignorance.

Through the enhancement of ourselves we also aim to eliminate inequalities, to improve interpersonal communication and cooperation and to promote innovative ideas for the overall well being.

One more purpose of the training is to encourage the deal with their personal fears and traumas that they carry with them and didn't have the chance or the courage to deal with them in order to feel free and move on with confidence and joy for life despite the difficulties they have to confront.

Finally, we purport to attain the key competencies of the Erasmus +, communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology, digital competence, learning to learn, social and civic competences, cultural awareness and expression.

Generally, this project consists of an effort to achieve the below objectives:

1. Promote mental well-being and positive attitude in life.

2. Develop skills for better understanding of their selves and others.

3.Gain self-confidence and resilience.

4.Identify and manage emotions under crisis periods.

5.Stress management and stress relief techniques and other coping strategies.

6. Develop innovative ideas for self-improvement.

7.Improve interpersonal communication through the development of effective communication skills and techniques.

8.Strengthen awareness for other cultures.

9.Enhance critical thinking and creativity.

10.Promote teamwork, cooperation and collective spirit

To conclude, self-knowledge, self-improvement, and awareness of Human Rights are the main aspects on which "MENTAL HEALTH UNDER CRISIS PERIODS" relied on to implement this project, which emphasizes to build upon to purports its objectives. Self-awareness is the key to create whatever you wish. Believe on your power, defend your uniqueness, embrace your past and create your own path. Your stories made the person that you are now so be proud of them and use that power to transform your life and empower others to do it as well. The component to achieve it is to believe in yourself

Main Idea of the project

A few months ago, the whole planet experienced something unprecedented, a global pandemic against during which we all had to be quarantined. Μany lives were lost and states were called upon to reduce disaster and protect our lives. In the meantime, our lives changed radically. Suddenly, our routine "broke" and we had to get used to living in "isolation". So, this program aims to express creatively through different tools of arts (creative writing, painting, theater e.t.c) this whole range of emotions. To speak, to hear, to feel, to consciously experience this time all these emotions, which we may have chosen to hide deep inside us and free ourselves from them.

Inspirer of most theatrical methods we will use is August Boal, a Brazilian Director, who experimented with new forms of theater to finally form one new kind of theater. The role of the teacher is taken over by the TFL. with a variety of exercises and techniques that aim first at social awareness reality and then the possibility of making any change. The theater initially functions as a means to better understand the reality that it is around us and within us and then as a means of transforming society.

This project aims to:

• Provide a platform to reflect and analyse the ways in which this pandemic has affected our lives.
• Discuss the new challenges that the crisis has created and the way how we can best approach them.
• Explore the new possibilities (methods, tools, etc.) that we have developed and/or improved
• Empowering the self-esteem and learn how to cope with anxiety and fear.

The Project specific objectives are :

• encourage participants to recognize and learn to express and manage their emotions.
• Learn how to express their feelings through their body.
• Making the participants to accept the outside situations and gain inner peace.
• Learning creative tools to gain more self-knowledge and transform the unwanted situations in their lives.
• Develop compassion for other people and learn the value of collaboration.

The idea is to use a variety of different Non-Formal educational methods of wellbeing with their self-improvement, personal development, coaching, time-management, psychology, against social and cultural discrimination and a lot of other themes which are becoming part of our personality. The aim is to spread these methods through the NGOs and help the participants to become more balanced and happier in their daily lives.

Relevance of the project for Erasmus+:

• Improving the key competencies and skills of participants.
• Including PAXs with fewer opportunities.
• Promote participation and active citizenship in European labor market.
• Increasing learning mobility opportunities for young people active in youth work.
• Enhanced cooperation

Timetable of the program

March 2021

Starting of the program - first communication with the partners. Webinar about the project for partners organisations

Initial webpage of the program

April 2021

Create a group in Facebook with all the trainers / leaders participating in the project for an easier exgange of ideas or questions about the program and for better communication, thought sharing and actions.

Selection of the participants that will participate in the training in September 2021 

May 2021

Signing contracts with all participants of the training and the organisations

Facebook group will be extended to all participants except from leaders, trainers and facilitators of the organizations. Facebook page for the moment is going to be a closed page - after in dissemination is going to open for all the people for dissemination of the results.

Webinar about the project for participants. 1st Detailed Info Pack that will be send to all participants through Facebook Webpage and also through their emails after the webinar.

June 2021

Do a research about the effects of Mental Health and how NFE activities with arts helps to have better understanding of themselves and expressing better their feelings making them more self-esteem.

June - July 2021

Lectures and discussions from specialists, informing the participants about Mental Health in a crisis situation

Project planning and implementation. The project includes the creation a poster, in every country about the theme of our project.

July 2021

Article preparation from groups by each country, writing about their work and what they have done during the whole program (from March 2021 till the end of July2021). Articles will be published to our webpage

August 2021

Publish to the Webpage of the Program all the information and material developed through the project.

September 2021

Training (7 days excluding travelling days) in Cyprus. From 18 till 26 of September

Evaluation of the program from the organisations.

Final modification of the activities of the training on our webpage.

October 2021

Dissemination of the program. All organisations will need to come in contact with their local area so all results of our project to be published and disseminated to a lot of people

Create a video about the whole project. The video will be prepared by the group from Cyprus.

End of the project

Main Information (Conclusion)

Project Name: MENTAL HEALTH UNDER CRISIS PERIOD, MHUCP

Duration: From 1/03/2021 till 31/10/2021

Activity: 18 to 26 of September 2021, Training at Cyprus of 27 youth workers (3 youth workers from each organization). Through this program we want the participants to express and understand the feelings they had during quarantine period and any crisis situation. Finally, we learn to recognize the opportunities that can arise in such situations and transform their lives.

Accomodation: Hylatio Tourist village, Pissouri, Limassol, Cyprus.

Applicant Organisation: Active Cypriot Programs and European Learning Into Acceptance, ACPELIA, email: acpeliacy@gmail.com 

Coordinator: Nikolas Nikolaou email: nic_nicolaou@hotmail.com 

Trainers: Erma Georgiou, Kyriacos Stouppas