As an organisation, we have been working with young people on a constant basis for a long time, and our work with youth had taken us abroad, where we met various foreign partners. With these partners, we discussed the situations they were facing in relation to the young people they work with. During a meeting with other international partners that we had at the end of 2024 at a Youth Conference, some of us began talking about the behavioural changes we were starting to notice in the younger generation. The Lithuanian partner opened up and shared that during her camps, she had noticed an increase in parents phoning her over the previous two years to check if their children were okay, as they had received multiple phone calls from their kids saying they wanted to quit the camp. Other partners who were part of the consortium confirmed having similar experiences, and it was also something that we ourselves witnessed during a five-day live-in activity that we organised that summer. Research conducted with these young people helped us understand that several of them wanted to leave because they felt too anxious, annoyed, excluded, emotionally bullied, or sad and homesick. The young people described an overall difficulty in getting along with peers, navigating social situations, adjusting to others’ wants and needs, and figuring things out without their parents’ help. We carried out an online literature review and discovered that what we were experiencing was not unique to us. It was a phenomenon increasingly observed by others working with children and young people. Deeper research helped us identify a number of realities and reasons contributing to this situation. Helicopter Parenting: This term refers to parents who closely monitor their children’s activities and schoolwork to shield them from potential pain or disappointment while also supporting their success (Schiffrin & Liss, 2017). This type of parenting impacts young people as they grow up, as they often lack the emotional and mental skills needed to work with others and to manage the challenges of everyday life (Vigdal & Brønnick, 2022). Comfortable Expectations: Our culture has led us to believe that life should align with our desires, free from struggle. As a result, many young people find it difficult to tolerate discomfort. Challenges and discomfort are no longer seen as natural parts of life that foster growth. Instead, when life becomes uncomfortable, there is a tendency to try to immediately fix the situation by changing something around us (Zolkoski & Bullock, 2012). COVID-19: The young people we worked with had experienced around two years of isolation due to the pandemic. During that time, while much was beyond their control, they gained greater control over their immediate environments. This meant they were not required to engage with peers, compromise, navigate challenges, or develop resourcefulness. Consequently, they missed out on two crucial years of emotional and social growth, as well as the chance to cultivate essential community-living skills. Upon reintegrating into their communities, many struggled to develop these vital skills (Arslan, 2024). Online Time: While screens had the potential to connect people, they often isolated them instead, creating individualised worlds where they could retreat. Within these digital spaces, young people surrounded themselves with their own preferences, opinions, and viewpoints, minimising exposure to those who might think or act differently. Screens offered a realm where they were in complete control and rarely encountered anything they did not approve of — an experience quite different from real life (Giordano et al., 2024). As youth workers, we often speak to young people about the importance of resilience and how to be resilient, but in several cases, we realised that we ourselves did not fully understand what resilience meant or what it truly took to be resilient. The aim of the training was to provide valuable support to professionals dedicated to serving young people. Throughout the training, participants embarked on a transformative journey, delving into their own reservoirs of resilience and personal passions. These insights not only strengthened their daily lives but also equipped them with the skills and inspiration needed to guide and empower young people in navigating challenges and growing into resilient, accomplished adults who would shape future generations. The objectives were: • To enhance participants’ understanding of the concept of resilience. • To encourage exploration of individual life experiences that shaped resilience. • To facilitate active engagement in activities, including group discussions and workshops, to uncover and nurture inner passions and resilience as invaluable assets in daily life. • To transfer the acquired knowledge of resilience principles to the context of working with youth.