21 Novembro 2022
From the 7th to the 13th of November, six teams have gathered in Porto for the seminar "The rise in "cRISEs". Those teams included members from Portugal (Geoclube), Greece (Infinity Greece), Italy (TDM 2000), Armenia (Youth Mix), Serbia (Edit Centar), and Poland (Level Up) who were very eager to share some good practices about how to deal with stress and anxiety in moments of crisis. The seminar explored subjects such as the social effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, coping mechanisms like yoga and meditation, NGOs with the purpose of helping youngsters go through hard times and so much more.
This project took place in the Youth Hostel of Porto, Portugal, so the participants had the opportunity to visit the city and its whereabouts. For instance, the seminar included a visit to Porto’s House of Associations and to a yoga studio. At the studio, the members of each team were able to contact with meditation and breathing exercises that were meant to relax and instruct the participants on how to proceed in a stressful situation if they enjoyed a more physical coping mechanism. Lots of books and activities were recommended during the session. During Thursday morning, a psychologist visited the hostel in order to provide some tips on how to keep calm in a crisis. Everyone reenacted a scene where they’d be in a very stressful and dramatic situation so they could share a bit about how they’d deal with that and also with the people who were more directly involved in it. There was an open space for debate after, which enriched the experience.
During the whole project, each team worked on a compilation of good practices and associations in their home-countries that have relevant objectives in comparison to the program: helping youngsters overcome unpleasant situations, improve life quality and the management of crisis. They also prepared a tool kit so people from outside the project also have access to the information shared during the project.
To escape from everyday activities, Friday was a day dedicated to visiting Porto, and taking a boat ride on the beautiful Douro River. And of course, incorporating visit to Porto under the city lights and wonderful music, made members all bond even more and fall in love with the Porto.
The last day of the seminar was very active, topics were discussed, especially the topic of Toolkit and the Future projects.
At the end, all the participants were reflecting on them self about the final evaluation of the Project. They shared what did they learned and what experience will they take to their countries. And under the sky Porto shearing individual emotion, feelings and motivation words to each other.