EQ in YW (EN)
Emotional Intelligence in Youth Work
What is it?
EQ in YW is a project aimed at young people and young adults between 18 and 35 years. As we are experiencing difficult times, with sudden changes occurring at all levels of society, we need all young people and young adults to be conscious to use their skills and practices that allow them to pass through liminal phases and deal with their own emotions, those associated with ambiguity and uncertainty arising from them. The actions of the project will be carried out at European level, at different national contexts, characterised by the same youth difficulties.
The objectives
- To dig deeper into the exploration of the great influence that emotional intelligence has on our lives and relationships.
- Develop methods that can support and nurture EQ while working with young people.
- Develop an updated and sustainable concept of an educational opportunity for young people between 14-25 years.
- Develop a parallel curriculum for youth workers based on the results of working with groups of young people, able to support and increase their competences in EQ on a personal and professional level.
- Create a publication about the relevance of emotional competences in youth work for the empowerment of local communities.
- Create a handbook on tools for youth workers who support the development of young people's emotional intelligence.
- Implement a Training Course for Youth Workers.
The innovation
EQ correlates with features such as perseverance, self-control, empathy and mutual support. It gives people, regardless of their abilities, the emotional strengths to adapt to change and face setbacks. The core of EQ is based on adapting the creation of conscious and intelligent actions with respect to our own emotional responses, as well as managing the reactions of other people to a situation full of emotions. In order to successfully manage all these responses, we must first recognise the emotional state in which we find ourselves and then recognise its impact on our behavioural patterns. To adjust and transform these patterns we need to use our conscious minds as we assess whether we are addressing ourselves and others in non violent and effective way.
The project is innovative as it is working on developing a curriculum of experiential methods to support and nurture the EQ. These methods will combine the different knowledge and practices carried out by our partners in a practical approach to the inner worlds of young people, aiming to create a EQ handbook for youth work and a curriculum to support their personal growth in today's world.
In detail, the project innovation is:
-It will delve into emotional intelligence (eg. what are the latest researches on this topic starting from and expanding the experiences of our partners) and, building on this new knowledge, develop practices and tools to nurture the EQ.
-It will focus on EQ accessing to it from different theories such as neuroscience, Goleman, Gardner, Gestalt, transactional analysis, positive psychology, U theory etc.
-It will extend the EQ from a gender perspective, keeping in mind that men are generally more resistant to emotions.
-It will design a practice-oriented curriculum rather than skills development-oriented curriculum so that the course and tools provided foster continuous internal sustainable change.
-It will have an interesting composition of partners, all of which have a great and long-lasting complementary experience in working with young people, as well as additional experiences in other educational fields.
-It will pilot a learning course that can involve participants with the same intensity in personal and professional development.
-It will look at the existing positive experience and not the deficit.
When and Where?
The kick-off meeting of "EQ in YW" will be held from 26 to 30 of October in Bremen, Germany.
Multiplier events will take place in the Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia, Austria and Italy.