Why do we CARE?

The pandemic is having a huge impact on us – youth workers – and above all on the young people with whom we deal on a daily basis.
Locked up in our homes, isolated, filled with fear and uncertainty, we didn’t have enough tools to deal with a completely new situation in which we found ourselves basically without warning, overnight.
Our organizations had to switch to remote mode, which has often been associated with reduced impact and loss of deeper contact with most of the youth, we work with.  The need to transfer all work online, the uncertainty whether our organizations and partners with whom we have carried out our missions so far will survive the crisis, the feeling of loneliness has also had a strong impact on our well-being, our motivation, and our faith in the possibility of making a change.
We are trying to rebuild our organizations and contacts, to start acting with new energy. However, in order to do this, we feel that we need some cleansing, reworking, and closing of the last 2 years.

CARE was born from the need to look at, take care of and finally develop tools for us, youth workers.
We want to look at what effect the pandemic has had on us at the level of the body, thoughts, relationships, and motivation. We want to close a certain stage and gain distance, learn and develop new practices and habits against burnout. After many months of working remotely, we also want to refresh contacts and build relationships based on meeting and working together.
Pandemic made us realize the importance of a holistic understanding of the well-being of youth workers holistically. 

By the meeting, we want to take care of ourselves, strengthen and prepare to take on new activities, but also teach specific tools that can help in this still uncertain reality.

What can you expect?

By participating you will have the opportunity to:

gain new skills in working with emotions
you will learn what it is and how to counteract professional/activist burnout
you will look at yourself, your emotions, how you function under stress and how you can support yourself
you will learn techniques for building mental resilience
you will learn the basics of non-violent communication – and how to apply them in your work with young people
you will meet other activists, educators, and activists from all over Europe and feel the support that being in the community provides
you will gain new skills in time management and future planning.
you will have the opportunity to take part in coaching sessions.
And all this under the guidance of experienced coaches and artists: Anna Książek, Paulina Jędrzejewska, Karolina Pyzik and Magda Turkowska.

If you want to take a look at the priorities, goals and dreams that guide you in your work be sure to APPLY!

Our eight-day training will focus on 3 areas.

CARE is first and foremost a meeting, and by meeting we mean space where we can share experiences and learn. This is the aim of the project.

Past – during which we will look at our emotions, learn more about what stress and burnout are, how they manifest in our bodies, minds, emotions and how they affect our relationships.

The present – during which we will stop for a moment here and now, renew contact with ourselves, with others and with nature, learn work techniques that promote well-being in the broadest sense, and learn to notice and name our emotions and needs (which will translate into better communication, especially in situations of potential conflict)

The future – during which we will look at our goals, priorities, refresh our dreams and values, and learn specific techniques for preventing burnout and ensuring organizational resilience in uncertain times.

When and where?

CARE is first and foremost a meeting, and by meeting we mean space where we can share experiences and learn. This is the aim of the project.

Our activity took place from 23.08 to 30.08. 2022.

Many thanks to our host:

Bobrowa Dolina Hotel, in Zajezierce near Bialystok, Poland.

If you have any questions about the project content, please contact karolina.pyzik@cultureshock.pl

Get inspired with exercises ideas from the CARE training PDF

Who will guide you through this training?

CARE is first and foremost a meeting, and by meeting we mean space where we can share experiences and learn. This is the aim of the project.

ANNA KSIĄŻEK – trainer, coach, activist, for years engaged in working with broadly understood well-being and counteracting burnout. A graduate of psychology, pedagogy and cultural studies at the University of Lodz, she also completed a year-long coaching school and the Polish School of Reportage. As a trainer, she has over 1000 hours of experience, she has worked with non-governmental organisations, companies and public institutions, cooperated, among others, with the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP), Ashoka, Amnesty International, PwC, Google, numerous schools, libraries and Interdisciplinary Teams for Combating Family Violence. Apart from conducting trainings, she occasionally writes reports, the last of which concerned the broadly understood problem of burnout in the third sector: https://www.exchangetheworld.info/single-post/nie-potrzebujemy-twojego-samoposwiecenia. Full portfolio: http://ksiazekanna.strikingly.com/

KAROLINA PYZIK – psychologist and Slavic studies scholar (University of Lodz, Ljubljana and Mariborje), trainer, facilitator, youth worker. Active in the field of non-formal education since 2015, cooperating, among others, with the Regional Centre for International Debate, the Institute for New Technologies, the “Women” Foundation, the Association “Dakato”, “Sfera”, the Changemaker Course initiative and numerous youth organizations in the European Union, the Western Balkans region and the Eastern Partnership countries. President of the Polish Association Senfineco. As a support for youth initiative groups preparing Erasmus+ applications, local campaigns or Solidarity Corps projects she worked in Poland, Slovenia and Spain. Responsible for psychological support and coordination of youth-initiated activities: conferences, debates, international meetings like APV, workshops. Independently or in a coaching tandem she has realised about 800 training hours. She specialises in building pools of young leaders of informal groups of young people working at larger self-government organisations, supporting motivation, quality control of performed activities, coherence of project goals with personal goals, coaching and mentoring. She prepares leaders of SCI network workcamps and Erasmus+ youth exchanges for their roles during international activities. The methods she uses are based on Kolb’s model, Dilts’ pyramid and the use of literature on manipulation theory, logic and philosophy. She supports young people and young adults as a career and values consultant.

PAULINA JĘDRZEJEWSKA: sociologist, cultural anthropologist, trainer, mentor, coach and group process facilitator, experience in personal development initiatives and workshops aimed to improve prosocial skills, working in the field of non-formal education for 18 years. She has a master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Warsaw with a specialty in Anthropology of local initiatives ( Institute of Applied Social Sciences), a postgraduate in Design Management, completed coach school with the Polish TROP Group. Since 2010, she has been running the Culture Shock Foundation, where she and her team implemented dozens of projects on the borderline of education, culture, art, and new media. She conducts workshops, social consultations, and seminars for employees of cultural institutions, business teams, teachers, local leaders, seniors, and other age groups. In her work, she actively implements methods such as design thinking, creative writing, improv theater, forum theatre, digital storytelling, and Non-Violent Communication or Transactional Analysis. She teaches how to use the potential of new technologies in the activities of an institution, school or company. An expert in the area of mobile applications for culture and education. Paulina creates programs and scenarios in the areas of culture, art, history and media education. She combines the use of new media (mobile and web applications, programming) in culture and education with the development of soft skills. She designs and produces conferences (including FAM – Forum of Applications and Mobile Games), cultural and artistic events.

Magda Turkowska: Painter, illustrator, animator.  She conducts art and creative workshops and helps people discover their potential. She has cooperated with the Association Pracownia Etnograficzna, Society of Friends of Children in Helena near Warsaw, and conducted workshops for children and, youth and adults with disabilities. She studied Ethnology at Warsaw University, where she became enthralled not only with the richness of other cultures, but also learned the importance of listening to other people’s stories. Fascinated by the creative process in painting and its therapeutic possibilities.

Funded by: