Our goal was to alongside recognizing trauma and the psychological barriers arising from it keep the topic in focus and building on each other's diverse experiences and expertise, present each other with innovative mental health and identity-strengthening teaching and learning methods, and opportunities linked to the scientific exploration of these complex phenomena, while highlighting the diverse and individual variations of coping mechanisms. The project brought two target groups into focus: colleagues working in helping professions living in partner countries, and youth starting at a disadvantage due to cultural characteristics, social or economic factors who carry or encounter traumatic experiences. By encouraging active participation, experiential learning, and community building the project implementation aimed to make future operations of participating organizations more efficient and to strengthen communities supporting mental health aspects of youth. Sharing of professional methodological knowledge, know-how transfer, dissemination, and community building among partner countries could lay foundations for larger broader international projects to be realized in the future.
One of the greatest challenges today is protecting the mental health of young people—especially due to their increasingly deteriorating mental state—along with broad societal sensitization, reducing stigma related to trauma, and promoting the development of long-term adaptive coping strategies. However, to achieve this, it is essential to timely identify and alleviate, or even prevent, difficulties arising in problem areas. By recognising and minimising identity-destroying elements early, we can effectively assist young individuals living with various psychological hurdles, facing societal-social barriers, and often being at a disadvantage due to cultural differences in their daily lives. At the same time it is important that professionals who assist the youth are professionally and methodologically prepared to address these issues, and that they support young people with appropriate knowledge, self-awareness, and problem-solving competencies that contribute to successfully overcoming obstacles. To this end, it is indispensable to expand and modernise our knowledge and build long-term partnerships with institutions experienced in providing mental support to young individuals.