The HEART project aims to bridge the gap in affective, relational, and sexual education for young people by providing youth workers with innovative tools and effective methodologies to address these topics in an inclusive and participatory way. Through a non-formal education approach, the project seeks to enhance the quality of youth work, strengthen the competencies of educators, and equip them with practical tools to create safe and engaging learning environments. Project objectives from a youth work perspective 1. Enhancing the competencies of youth workers - Providing participants with practical tools to facilitate discussions on complex topics related to relationships, identity, and sexuality. - Improving communication and active listening skills, essential for fostering open and constructive dialogue with young people. - Promoting an educational approach based on gamification and role-playing, making learning more engaging and meaningful. 2. Innovating methodologies in youth work - Integrating narrative role-playing games such as Monsterhearts 2, Big Gay Orcs, and Dream Askew into youth work to help young people explore and understand relational dynamics in a safe environment. - Implementing learning by doing, where participants experience immersive educational activities firsthand, acquiring practical, applicable skills for their work with youth. - Strengthening peer-to-peer learning, encouraging knowledge exchange among youth workers from different countries and cultural backgrounds. 3. Promoting an inclusive and diversity-sensitive approach - Equipping youth workers with tools to address affective and relational education in a gender- and culturally inclusive manner. - Raising awareness on issues such as discrimination, consent, and respect in relationships, ensuring that education considers the experiences and needs of all young people. 4. Ensuring the sustainability and dissemination of the methodologies learnt - Develop a digital toolkit collecting the methodologies tested, providing materials and guidelines that can be used by other youth workers also after the end of the project. - To create a network of collaboration between the partner organisations, in order to foster the replicability of the HEART approach in other educational contexts and Erasmus+ projects. - To ensure that acquired competences are recognised through Youthpass, thus increasing the professional expendability of participants in the youth work sector. Through the implementation of the HEART project, we aim to create a concrete impact in the youth work sector by making youth workers better prepared and more aware in dealing with key issues of youth development. We want educators to acquire innovative tools to deal with sensitive topics with confidence and competence, using creative methodologies that foster the active involvement of young people. The project will not only train a small group of participants, but will have a multiplier effect by disseminating good practices and creating a community of educators attentive to relational and emotional dynamics.