The Moving Forward Youth Exchange was created in full correspondence with the Erasmus+ KA1 programme and its objectives are A) to support young people with the feelings of grief they are experiencing in the global COVID-19 outbreak and B) to empower them to make the best use of their current situation for their personal and professional growth and development. These issues are addressed through the design of a 7-day youth exchange programme, which integrates the 8 Erasmus+ core competences, combines multiple educational inputs, largely based on cognitive & behavioural psychology, and combines theoretical learning structures with practical expertise in youth-friendly, fun, non-formal activities. To examine the various sources of mourning we need to look for constants that were lost or ceased during the pandemic. Already in 2019, according to the International Labour Organisation, the global unemployment rate for 15-24 year olds was 12.6%. During the pandemic, adults in households with job loss or lower income report higher rates of mental illness symptoms than those without job/income loss (53% vs. 32%). Young adults have experienced a range of pandemic-related consequences, such as university closures, anxiety about loved ones and loss of income, which can contribute to poor mental health. During the pandemic, a higher than average proportion of young adults (18-24 years old) report symptoms of anxiety and/or depressive disorder (56%). Compared to all adults, young adults are more likely to report substance use (25% vs. 13%) and suicidal thoughts (26% vs. 11%). Before the pandemic, young adults were already at high risk of poor mental health and substance use disorder, although many were not receiving treatment (Kamal et al, 2021). Young people have had to grieve in many aspects of their lives, such as social relationships cut off, loved ones passed away and career opportunities lost. What happens when grief is stigmatised or there is no appropriate place to express it? Grief is defined in the literature as "a universal feature of human existence, regardless of culture, although the form and intensity of its expression varies considerably from active distress to passive depression" (Archer, 1999). The idea that mourning can end and that the grieving person should eventually "get over" and "move on" is still a strong general consensus in societies around the world. Self-help literature is available and so-called "practitioners" on the internet or in the office are advertised as tools to get to a point where the bereaved no longer feel grief (Klass et al., 1996). "Mourning, however, is a process of psychological reintegration, driven by conflicting desires to seek and recover the lost relationship while escaping from painful reminders of loss" (Marris, 2015). Young people find themselves in an unprecedented transitional period of uncertainty and bereavement, without sufficient support and guidance, with the result that many do not believe in themselves, are unable to identify career opportunities and look to the future with optimism. In the light of the above findings, the need to develop skills for employability, adaptability, creativity, mental resilience and flexibility, as well as for the social, learning and personal development of young people is crucial. MO.FO, bringing together 40 young people from 8 countries, specifically aims to: - To enable participants to fulfil and maximise their individual potential on a personal, social and professional level, promoting the importance of mutual help, self-improvement and good mental health as a tool useful for their personal and professional improvement, - To offer a space where young people can discover how grief is really expressed to their fellow human beings and to themselves, as well as the whole range of situations in which they grieve, - To significantly improve the participants' verbal and non-verbal communication skills in a social and/or professional environment, - To teach fundamental digital and media literacy skills, vital for the ever-changing present and future labour market, - To motivate young people to develop a collective spirit and to speak and act on issues that concern them in a social and political context