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From Wi-Fi to Wildlife: Weaving Tales of Soul and Soil

2026-1-HR01-KA153-YOU-0003935332026Mobility of youth workersongoing
Countries: HR|EL|HU|PT|RS|PL|MK|ES · Grant: €31,432
Physical and mental health, well-beingNew learning and teaching methods and approaches

Objectives

The main aim of the project is to strengthen the capacity of youth workers (YW) to address the mental health challenges, social disconnection, and digital dependency that increasingly affect young people today, using oral storytelling and permaculture. Oral storytelling is one of humanity’s oldest forms of connection and healing, offering a powerful way to process emotions, build empathy, and transmit wisdom across generations. It moves beyond a simple exchange of information to create a shared, communal experience that fosters a sense of belonging and validates individual narratives. By engaging in oral storytelling, young people are encouraged to find their voice, and in a time of social disconnection and digital over-reliance, this act becomes a radical form of empowerment. Blending the profound power of storytelling with the grounded, holistic principles of permaculture, the project also seeks to equip youth workers with innovative, replicable tools that enhance their ability to create safe, resilient, and empowering learning environments. This comprehensive approach recognizes that the well-being of young people is interconnected with their relationship to themselves, their communities, and the natural world. From the perspective of youth work practice, the project's objectives are multifaceted and deeply integrated. We aim to expand the toolbox of youth workers by introducing storytelling techniques rooted in psychoanalytical, cultural, and performative traditions. This goes beyond simple narrative and enables them to foster emotional expression, empathy, and resilience in young people through a powerful non-formal methodology. Complementing this, we will connect mental health awareness with nature-based learning by engaging youth workers in permaculture practices, hands-on ecological activities, and reflective time in nature. This provides them with direct, experiential methods to address digital overexposure and encourage balance and well-being, effectively helping young people find meaningful connection when the Wi-Fi is turned off. The project is also designed to foster a culture of co-creation and peer learning. Youth workers will be encouraged to design, implement, and replicate sessions during and after the activity, thereby enhancing their facilitation skills and reinforcing the principle of learning by doing. This approach ensures that the knowledge is not just received but actively practiced and owned. By doing so, we directly strengthen youth work responses to European priorities, aligning with the EU Youth Strategy 2019–2027 and its focus on creating "healthy, connected, and resilient youth," ensuring that the practices developed contribute to broader youth policy objectives at local, national, and European levels. Finally, the project's vision is to build a lasting transnational network of youth workers committed to integrating storytelling, mental health sensitivity, and ecological practices into their daily work. This will ensure that the project’s impact continues far beyond the mobility, advancing youth work practices by blending creativity, ecology, and well-being into an integrated approach that is not only innovative but also adaptable and transferable across different cultural and organizational contexts.

Project partners (8)