Creative Garden is a professional development training course for youth workers who work closely with young people and who increasingly experience pressure, overload, and a lack of space to reflect on their practice. The project emerged from conversations and a needs survey with youth workers from several European organisations, which revealed very similar challenges across different contexts. Many youth workers describe feeling stretched and at risk of burnout. Well-being and self-care are not seen as personal extras, but as professional necessities. Without time and space to pause, reflect, and recharge, youth workers find it harder to stay present, motivated, and responsive in their work with young people. Digital overload and constant fragmentation of attention further affect the quality of relationships and the ability to notice group dynamics and individual needs. At the same time, youth workers express a strong need for practical creative methods that can be used in real working conditions. Creativity is valued not as artistic performance, but as a way to support inclusion, emotional expression, trust, participation, and youth voice. Respondents highlight that creative methods are particularly effective when they are accessible, low-threshold, and supported by solid facilitation skills. A lack of exchange and feedback between organisations and countries is also mentioned, often leading to professional isolation and limited learning from others’ experience. Creative Garden responds to these needs by offering a structured learning process grounded in youth work practice. The project treats creativity as a core youth work competence, closely connected to facilitation quality, leadership, inclusion, and sustainability. The training follows a clear learning arc, starting with the creation of a safe learning environment and a shared understanding of creative youth work. This is followed by guided practice using embodied, storytelling, theatre-based, and nature-based methods. These methods are not only experienced, but analysed from a youth work perspective, with attention to facilitation choices, inclusion, and everyday constraints such as time, resources, and group dynamics. Participants then move into facilitating their own sessions, receiving peer feedback and reflecting on their role as youth workers. The final phase focuses on reflection, evaluation, and transfer into concrete youth work contexts. The main objective of Creative Garden is to strengthen the quality, sustainability, and innovation of youth work by supporting youth workers to develop creative, reflective, and inclusive facilitation competences. More specifically, the project aims to help youth workers integrate well-being and self-care into their professional practice, strengthen presence and responsiveness in group work, develop participatory leadership skills, and expand their toolbox with adaptable creative methods. The project also aims to foster intercultural exchange and peer learning, and to ensure concrete transfer into practice through participant-led workshops and clear action plans. By grounding the project in identified needs, aligning it with the ETS competence framework, and embedding reflection and transfer throughout the programme, Creative Garden supports youth workers to improve their daily practice and create more inclusive, responsive, and meaningful spaces for young people.