As this year was slowly coming to an end, participants from six different countries: Romania, Hungary, Italy, Georgia, Cyprus and Czech Republic crossed their national borders to gather in the city of Paphos, Cyprus to explore the topic of a mental health by participating in the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange “Healthy minds, happy minds”.
What is mental health?
Mental health is crucial to overall well-being, it has an impact on how we think, feel, and act. Promoting mental health awareness through a training course in an exchange program can foster empathy, reduce stigma, and equip participants with essential skills to support themselves and others. This can create a more compassionate, resilient global community.
Schedule:
On the first day, we began by getting to know the other participants and took part in ice-breaking activities that helped us to understand each others characteristics and personalities.
This enabled us to create closer connections and share cultural experiences from our respective countries. Moreover, we also drew portraits of each other and then displayed them on the wall to always have an overview of all the participants.
On the second day, we took part in a tower-building activity using strange materials such as marshmallows, sheets of paper and spaghetti sticks. The shared activity encouraged teamwork and collaboration. Later, the entire group splitted up to engage in a treasure hunt, which helped us to step out of our comfort zones and also to engage with locals. During the evening, Hungarians hosted the first intercultural night, in which they showcased fun facts, songs, music and food of their cultural heritage.
On the third day, we created large posters presenting mental health issues and engaged in deep discussions, exchanging valuable insights. This activity encouraged self-reflection and awareness of our mental states. Subsequently, the group went to the beach, where one member led us in a pilates session to promote physical activity and body awareness. To conclude the day’s activity, we drew representations of ourselves as means of transport, this task made us reflect on how we would describe our live and ourselves now. The evening ended with a cultural night hosted by Cyprus.
On the fourth day, the topic was discussed in greater depth through a goal matrix exercises, which enabled us to reflect on our personal goals and assessed our readiness to achieve them.
We were asked to identify which goals were most important for our development, then we had an open discussion, in which we could reflect upon our feelings for the outcome of the activity and our intentions for the future.
In the evening, we enjoyed the Romanian intercultural evening.
On the fifth day, we explored the concept of empathy. We realised that most of the times mistakes and misunderstandings happen because we don’t put enough efford to understand others backgrounds or histories. This experiment highlighted the need of spending more time listening to other people’s points of view and the importance of not being judgemental. Participants shared personal experiences and skills. Later in the evening, we hosted our Italian intercultural evening. Music, gestures and food were the very core of our night.
On the following day, we took a tour some of the best attractions of Cyprus, visiting places like Aphrodite’s Rocks and exploring the city of Limassol. We had plenty of time to walk around and sightseeing.
In the evening, we celebrated the Georgian intercultural night.
The next day began with activities that focused on the value of Erasmus programs. We discussed why mental health is so significant, the benefits of positive thinking, and how we can express ourselves more openly.
After the cultural presentations, our nights were always enriched with notes from “The secret box”, in which we exchanged funny messages and compliments.
We also played games that helped us learn more about each other, fostering deeper connections and creating meaningful interactions among all participants.
We are immensely grateful and we feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to participate and share this experience between ourselves and with the other countries. There is no better way to gain mutual understanding and knowledge than this. We would advise anyone to leave as soon as they can, seize the chance to take part in one of these exceptional experiences.
A heartfelt thanks to Alice, Arbjona, Emanuele, Greta and Simone.