On January 26th , 2023 at Coworking Cofò in Cinisello Balsamo, took place the Focus Group related to the project "RAY - Resilience and Adaptability in Youth: Raising awareness and developing skills amidst the Covid-19 crisis", a project which is funded by the European Erasmus+ program.

The Focus Group is an activity provided by the project with the purpose of collecting data, opinions and views that will be the content basis for the development of project outputs R1 and R2, which correspond to the creation of the Youth Worker Toolkit and the "Survival Handbook" for youth, respectively.
The team consisted of a group of four youth, four youth workers, two experts in the field of mental health, and two moderators.

After a presentation of the project and activity, participants introduced themselves briefly and we began the discussion session.

In the first part, we focused on the Toolkit for Youth Workers; we reflected on what the role of youth workers can be when it comes to mental health, what the indicators of distress in youth can be and how we can recognize them, and consequently how we can guide and refer youth to seek help.

The second part of the discussion focused on the topics that should be covered within the Youth Survival Handbook. Starting with a theoretical part that helps us identify the "alarm bells" our body gives us when something is wrong, moving through practical tips and methods that can help us feel better and overcome anxiety or stress attacks, and finally outlining the aesthetic and visual imagery that a Youth Survival Manual should have.

The exchange of ideas and opinions was really rich in new insights and observations on the topic, especially due to the diverse backgrounds of the working group participants.

The focus group has been a valuable exchange of advice and ideas that will be put into practice in the coming months during the writing of the two official project documents.
If you are curious to see the results, keep following us!