After two successful years, the Storyliving project is coming to its end.
The pandemic of COVID-19 had a significant impact on the mental health of the European population.
Social restrictions, a sense of uncertainty for the future and the spread of terrifying news have affected youth, increasing their level of anxiety, stress and depression. In particular, youth living with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other mental health disorders experienced a greater increase of anxiety because of an abrupt change in their daily routine, the difficulty of access to therapy and special education services. In most cases, parents have become their only caregivers.
The project StoryLiving – Enabling youth with developmental disabilities & mental health disorders to share their COVID-19 experiences through digital storytelling– co-founded by the European Commission through Erasmus+ – KA2: Strategic Partnership for Youth Education- aims at overcoming the challenges that youth with developmental disabilities & mental health disorders faced during the pandemic through the use of digital storytelling.
StoryLiving supports storytelling as a method for overcoming and process emotions, fears, traumas and isolation and for sustaining the healing process of youth and their families.
The ultimate goal of StoryLiving, that is the mental wellbeing of youth with developmental disabilities & mental health disorders, contributes to the achievement of the 11 European youth goals (2019-2027), in particular of goal #5 Mental Health and Wellbeing.
The project was implemented in:
- Greece, by KMOP – Education and Innovation Hub
- Germany, by BUPNET
- UK, by Canary Wharf Consulting
- Italy, by Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo “Danilo Dolci”
- Spain, by Fundación INTRAS
- The Republic of North Macedonia, by KMOP Skopje
- Belgium, KMOP – Policy Center
During the project we:
- Developed a Training Program on the storytelling methodology for youth workers, educators and social workers working with youth with developmental disabilities/ mental health disorders
- Piloted and Developed a collection of stories by youth with developmental disabilities/ mental health disorders
- Developed a training and hosting platform
- Produced Recommendations & Guidelines on using storytelling as a communication and healing process during & after the pandemic
If you want to learn more about the project, visit the website.