Inspiration
In this section you can find sources of inspiration we like to use both for our personal well-being and for our workshops. We invite you to explore these tools, and use, adapt, complement or share them with peers and colleagues.
Co-Warming
The Co-Warming project (the precursor of EMPOWERmental) was a research-based initiative supported by Tandem Europe in 2019-20.
The partnership of Italian art therapist and designer Elena Guinta and Hungarian choreographer and yoga teacher Flóra Eszter Sarlós focused on improving the mental well-being of working communities and raising awareness of burnout. Through the project, they worked on the development of artistic tools that can be integrated into the daily life of a community and foster community openness to promote mental balance and the importance of preventing burnout.
Our collaboration consisted of the following:
- sharing thoughts and professional exchange with experts of the fields of art therapy, mindfulness, yoga, dance, theatre and design
- sharing thoughts, professional exchange and mentoring within Tandem Europe program with the help of international project managers, social workers and artists
- testing workshops with different target groups (employees of Larius social enterprise, artists and cultural managers)
- design and creation of an informational card package with a summary and visualisation of the exercises in English.
StressLess
The 2-month StressLess project was an online journey towards our well-being.
We, as professionals driven by passion, social impact and innovation, face a lot of stress that can arise from our commitment. Passion from our work often leads to long hours and emotional strain, resulting in high stress levels.
Seeing this tendency in their work environment inspired Eszter Boros and Tímea Szőke to create this 2-month journey dedicated to fostering resilience and supporting each other’s mental and physical well-being. This journey is designed to create a nurturing and mindful space where we can grow personally and professionally. Through workshops, shared experiences, reflective practices, and a supportive community, we developed strategies to manage stress and build a sustainable approach to our work.
The workshop series was granted by the International Alumni Center (iac Berlin) supporting the participation of members from the global Bosch Alumni Network.
The collaboration enhanced the development of the following:
- easy to adopt tools and accessible practices that can be incorporated into your everyday life
- approach to navigate your daily stress better and identify moments for your mental health
- the project resulted in a workbook harvesting the learnings and tools presented throughout the program.
Well-being Treasure Box
EMPOWERmental is rooted in the belief that facilitators and youth workers, just like the young people they support, deserve tools to cultivate their own mental well-being. Because by caring for ourselves, we’re better able to care for others.
Therefore, we designed the 8-day EMPOWERmental Body-Mind Balance Through Arts Retreat Training supported by Erasmus+ to guide youth professionals to mental balance and creative expression through arts. This retreat was an invitation to pause, reflect, and connect with yourself and others while learning practical, art-based embodied methods to support both facilitators and the young people they work with.
However, our goal is to support not only those who could participate, but all facilitators used to pour into others’ cups first. We aim to equip you with creative practices you can use to support both yourself and the people you work with. In this toolkit, together with participants of our retreat training, we are sharing some of our favourite practices to support the well-being of groups and individuals.
The tools you will find here are ready to be adapted and applied with your groups as a facilitator, yet we’d like to remind you that you may also use them for your personal well-being. By using the Treasure Box, we invite you to become part of a creative and caring community, supporting our own well-being all the while supporting others.
The project was supported by the Erasmus+ project of the European Union.
More inspiration to come...
Would you like to add something? Feel free to reach out and send us books, practices and projects that inspire you.