Beat Social Crisis — Open Mind

The Beat Social Crisis — Open Mind youth exchange project took place in Jastrzębia Góra, north Poland between 29 August and 8 September. The main purpose of the project was to build a non-violent communication system between participants from 6 different countries and face the social crisis that covid-19 lockdown caused.

During our youth exchange program, we participated actively in interactive workshops and we practiced communication skills with team projects. Specifically, we worked on these goals by understanding how important non-violent communication is in human relationships and that each crisis has an opportunity. Moreover, we learned how meditation can help people deal with life problems by bringing peace into their minds. Last but not least, we developed mindfulness by stress reduction activities.

The goals mentioned above were practiced through different activities. First of all, each morning we had workout sessions such as yoga, zumba, pilates, volleyball and more. These sessions helped us start our day energetically. What is more, we had many art therapy projects that brought out our creativity. Furthermore, we had both small and big team projects that made us realise how important it is for each person to understand their skills and find their role in a team. Lastly, we had trust games where we shared many personal experiences, opinions and feelings. By taking part in these games, we understood how many things we have in common and at the same time, what makes us different people.

To sum up, the Erasmus+ experience is the perfect opportunity to interact with people from different cultures and learn things about them, develop individual skills, learn more things about yourself and your abilities, visit new places and most important, we made new friends! We are grateful for the life experience we had there.