The Roots & Remedies youth exchange was born out of an initiative of young people from Latvia, who were looking for opportunities for connection and well-being, and found them in nature, through the events organized by re:view, such as local hikes. After having many fruitful discussions within and also outside these events, we came to a conclusion that many young people nowadays feel largely disconnected from others and their community, and for these or other reasons are facing mental health challenges, which most of us have also experienced. Therefore, we decided and initiated the creation of a youth exchange programme that would address this problem through what has also supported us the most - nature. After connecting with organizations in our international network, who are just as passionate about this topic as us, and creating a powerful team of young people, we began to develop this idea further. We did research through reading articles online, looking at statistics and conducting a survey in which 111 young people participated from our networks and led us to important conclusions, inspiring to develop a programme tailored specifically to the needs of young people. Among the findings were that youth mental health is indeed in crisis, with one in five adolescents in Europe suffering from mental disorders and the high suicide rate among youth. We also found that lower connection with nature is linked to poorer mental health and environmental apathy, while exposure to nature brings significant benefits like reduced stress, better mood, and higher empathy, which coincided with our own observations. Other problems, such as the negative effects of social media on mental health and connection to community showed up in our survey, but most importantly we found that the need for spending more time and connecting with nature is high - almost all (98%) of surveyed youngsters expressed this wish, and most of them (72%) believe that local initiatives would encourage them to do so, highlighting the need for a programme that not only supports young people in taking care of their mental health through nature, but also inspires them to take action in creating local nature-based initiatives. Based on these findings, our discussions and ideas, and taking into account the best practices and the goals of Erasmus+ Programme, the Roots & Remedies YE has two main aims: To support the personal and professional development of 30 young people by introducing them to nature-based practices for improving their mental health and well-being, enhancing their soft skills, and creating an environment of intercultural connections and peer-support. To promote nature as a free and accessible resource for fostering local and regional community connections and meaningful actions by encouraging young people to exchange sustainable practices, ideas for community outdoor activities, and ultimately developing an activity kit for young leaders and organizations. To reach these aims and connect with the specific objectives of youth exchanges and European Youth Goals, such as Quality Learning, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Connecting EU with Youth and Sustainable Green Europe, we set the following objectives: 1. Support 30 young people in learning how to improve their mental health and well-being through nature-based activities and peer-learning. 2. Develop and improve the soft skills of 30 young people such as communication, teamwork, creativity, and resilience, through experiential & participatory learning. 3. Create an environment where young people actively engage in intercultural exchange and non-formal learning, sharing experiences and sustainable practices, and exploring ideas for building community connections through nature-based activities, in this way contributing to the development of the activity kit. 4. Create a digital activity kit with practical ideas and resources for young people and organizations to use nature as a resource for creating community engagement, promoting connections, well-being and environmental sustainability. 5. Strengthen the sense of belonging and community among participants during the exchange, and keeping the connection after it, through common digital spaces. 6. Encourage young people to take local action in their communities by creating nature-based activities that promote community connection and well being, with the potential to integrate sustainable practices (e.g. clean-ups). 7. Raise awareness and interest in the EU opportunities available to young people, by sharing and exchanging information about various Erasmus+ programs, funding options, and educational resources