International evidence shows that mental health problems invariably start in adolescence and young adults; youth suicide in Europe is high; bullying, abuse, conflict, sustained distress, and trauma is rising; youth are prone to peer pressure and delinquency. Disadvantaged and refugee youth are more at risk. Conflict refugees, arriving in European Union countries, have a risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and psychosis 3 times higher than host populations. • The Syrian crisis and ISIL’s incursion led to 6.4 million international refugees and 2 million conflict widows (Europol, 2017). About ¼ entered the EU-28 ‘with a median age of 28.1 years’ (Eurostat), and ‘... nearly 40%, mainly female youth, unable to connect or access mental health support’ (WHO). • Youth in migrant communities, or conflict refugees, have a higher risk of entanglement with slavery, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, conflict victimhood, intolerance, human trafficking, and being radicalized (WHO, 2017; Europol, 2017; IOM, 2017). Youth workers serving in these target groups carry a significantly increased risk of adverse effects. Secondary Trauma Syndrome (STS) - commonly described as ‘compassion fatigue’ or ‘burnout’, is significant (USA - Bride, 2016; EU - Kizilhan et al, 2018; Middle East (Plakas, 2016): a) Youth workers (i) with prolonged exposure to disadvantaged communities or communities with trauma related challenges; (ii) where social isolation is a significant factor (iii) and either working with limited resources (or their recommendations not being taken seriously)– are at significant risk of STS in the third sector. b) Quality of care offered by youth workers falls significantly when their mental wellbeing and resilience drop. This Trauma Healing and Community Resilience Development (THCRD) project was formed to address the imbalance - ‘to enable youth workers to be more aware and to be equipped in self-care to forestall the risk of STS’, with four objectives: 1) Establishment of continual reflective, self-assessment and self-monitoring 2) Grasp of the anatomy and drivers of fear, anxiety, trauma, worry and STS 3) Establishment of reflective self-care practices evidenced in fostering resilience and intactness 4) Inter-cultural collaboration, across borders, with youth workers handling similar challenges – improving awareness and connectedness. (‘Peer-learning activity on cross-sectoral approaches in youth work, EU Youth Strategy, 2019 – 21). We began in 2021 as the pandemic was shattering lives, ‘a serious threat to mental health, particularly among young people’ (OECD,2021), with European youth mental health problems, both significant (37-40%) and severe (6-13%). Youth workers enrolled with stress levels both pronounced (40%) and significantly elevated (10%). The project led to a fall in participant stress levels of 40%. Anxiety levels fell by ~70%. Elevated stress/anxiety dropped to 10-15%. The project verifiably improved intactness, self-awareness, hugely improving resilience. Participants collaborated, connected between diverse cultures, religions, geographies, finding their shared humanity, significantly improving professional effectiveness in the largest global epidemic for 90 years. 3 EU Key Competencies delivered had a pivotal role: · Literacy: ‘to pose, solve and interpret problems’§ · Learning to learn: ‘awareness of one's learning process and needs, overcome obstacles to learn, build on prior learning and life experiences’, ‘learning autonomously’, ‘work collaboratively as part of the learning process’, ‘draw benefits in a heterogeneous group’, ‘share what they have learnt’, ‘organise their own learning’§ ‘mobilising inner, reflective psychosocial resources, ‘act/ think reflectively, build the ability to deal with change’‡ · Social and Civic Competencies: ‘to resolve conflict, [foster] ‘ethnic diversity’ and ‘gender respect’; ‘express and understand different viewpoints’; to ‘create confidence’, ‘empathy, overcome prejudices’; ‘creative reflection, constructive participation in community’§ ‘relate well to others’, ‘cooperate, work in teams, manage and resolve conflicts’‡ ‘The need for individuals to think and act reflectively is central. Reflectiveness involves ... the ability to apply routinely a formula or method for confronting a situation ... the ability to deal with change, learn from experience and think and act with a critical stance. It is not just about how individuals think, but also about how they construct experience ... including their thoughts, feelings and social relations. This requires individuals to reach a level of social maturity that allows them to distance themselves from social pressures, take different perspectives, make independent judgments and take responsibility for their actions.’‡ § ‘Recommendation of the European Parliament. 2006/962/EC’ ‡ PISA (2005). ‘The definition and selection of Key Competencies.’