From the 27th of February to the 4th of March the Training Course Youth Activator in Harmony 2.0 took place in the small mountainous town of Poronin, Poland. Through our shared experience with our friends from Turkey, Poland, Latvia, Greece and Portugal, the 3 representatives we sent were challenged to work on and discuss their tools and knowledge on topics such as mental health, improvisation and learning how to learn.
Through our many fun activities, we learned how to listen, converse, improvise, keep the conversation going and essentially improve our leadership and facilitating skills. With the help of many processes such as The Kolb’s learning cycle, we managed to grasp and understand, first handedly, what learning really means. In our discussions, we dove deep into the meanings of the words creativeness and innovation.
The facilitators encouraged us to define the borders between facilitators, educators, mentors, moderators, experts and co-trainers.
To help us on the second part of the project, where we are challenged to facilitate our very own simulation-type workshop, we talked about the methods we plan to implement into the 90 minute time frame, our target groups, and how to include games and energizers.
Enacting the 8 ways of regeneration as a tool for wellbeing reflection, we confronted our current and future selves, and thought about how to better our future life quality and balance. A big part of our journey was the music and theatre improvisation, where we were faced with our ability to keep the conversation alive and present, to successfully gauge the groups’ attention and create a harmonious fruitful working environment.
In our discussions we touched on how to better understand and differentiate the terms of equity, equality, inclusion and diversity, putting ourselves in the skins of people with different economic, social and geographical backgrounds. These activities encouraged us to understand different perspectives and ultimately taught us how to create and nurture a sense of community and comfortable space for people from diverse backgrounds.
Taking a trip up the mountains, we discovered the hidden beauties of the small city of Zakopane. where we were welcomed by a breathtaking panorama view of the town. Every little antiquity shop and building opened our hearts to the Polish culture and scenery even more than before. We enjoyed the warm waters of the winter thermal pools near our town to poetically put an end to our meeting, and keep hope and excitement going for our next one.
