IMPLEMENTATION
IMMHEALD-Improvement of Mental Health after a Lockdown took place in Athens in Greece from18 to 26 of August 2023 and was implemented by INPLANET organization with cooperation with Acpelia. The project Manager was Nikolas Nikolaou and the trainers were Erma Georgiou and Orfeas Kritikos.The implemented activities were the following:
19 of August 2023 Day 1:
Activity to break the ice between the participants and get to know each other.The first activity was to say our name in a circle and do a pose and then the second participant had to repeat the name of the previous one, make his/her pose and then to add his/her own pose. It's an activity that is funny but also needs a lot of concentration especially for the participants that are at the middle or the end of the circle
Another activity was to divide the group into two circles and the participants that were at the inside circle had to face the participants of the outer circle. Each participant from the outside circle took a paper and a maker and they had to draw a particular part of the face as the trainer asked for (eyes,nose,mouth etc.).Each time,participants of the outer circle had to move a step clockwise and to draw another part of the face of another participant.When they completed the drawing of faces,the participants of inside circle took place at the outside circle and vise versa,in order all the participants to have a portrait at the end.In this way, we had a portrait of each participant which had been drawn by various other participants. Afterwards, we put them up on the wall with an envelope underneath which was used to place some "presents'' and nice words to another person.
-EXPECTATIONS,FEARS
AND CONTRIBUTION:
We asked participants to write in papers their expectations,their fears and their contribution to the training.Afterwards, we divided the participants in three groups and each group had to create a poster either with expectations,fears or contribution and to present to us.
-TOP TEN:
Afterwards we explained about the " TOP TEN" activity. Top Ten is a quick game that usually we play one to two times each day before to start the morning and evening session. At " Top Ten" the participants are playing in their national teams and first of all to have the right to play they have to be on time as a team and afterwards to find some answers in the game. For example,one question can be "Which are the top ten busiest airports in the world?". The aim of the game is to motivate and challenge the participants to be always on time and to act as a team.
-TEAM BUILDING MIME:
We divided participants into teams of 5 and explained them that each of them had to stand in the center of the circle and mime out an important event in their personal or professional life.For example mime the event of the birth of their first child or getting their first job.Participants had few minutes to act out the event and they couldn't use any verbal or written communication in describing the event.We continued the exercise until everyone had a go and we had a discussion about the importance of non verbal communication and how easy or difficult was to understand it.This activity helps the participant develop an understanding of non-verbal cues from the speaker and also helps the participants to express themselves using expressions and body language.It creates awareness about possible areas of misunderstanding while reading reading cues.
-ENGAGE OTHERS:
This activity was to get to know each other better and break the ice.Each participant had some questions like ask two people about their favorite food,or their favorite destination,hobbies etc and write them down. In order to answer these questions they had to talk and communicate with other participants and create a common space so that it would be easy for them to work in the following days.
20 of August 2023:
DAY 2:
-INTRODUCTION TO THE THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED:
We did an introduction about the theatre of the Oppressed and their techniques.The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) describes theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated in the 1970s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe. Boal was influenced by the work of the educator and theorist Paulo Freire and his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Boal's techniques use theatre as means of promoting social and political change in alignment originally with radical-left politics and later with centre-left ideology. In the Theatre of the Oppressed, the audience becomes active, such that as "spect-actors" they explore, show, analyze and transform the reality in which they are living.
-COLUMBIAN HYPNOSIS:
The group is divided into pairis-choosing A & B. A hypnotized B with his/her hand-B had to keep his face just a few inches from A's hand at all times-always an equal distance. A should try to manipulate B into all sorts of positions,using forgotten muscles,in order to use her body in a different way. A & B swap around.It's a powerful activity from the Theatre of the Oppressed and it's about power and how we can use it in our relation to another person. After,It followed a discussion about their thoughts and emotions and what they realized from this activity.
-FEEL WHAT YOU TOUCH:
The most well-known exercise practiced with eyes closed in the TO repertoire.One partner leads the other (who keeps his/her eyes closed) through the environment. In doing so, the person with opened eyes leads the hand of their non-seeing partner to various objects, things, plants, cloth etc. The 'curious' hand can decide for itself how long it would like to explore something, and when it's had enough. Then the seeing partner leads him/her to a different place.
The aim of this exercise is to experience the familiar in new,unfamiliar ways. It's not a guessing game, but a process of 'reading' using fingers and hands. After roughly ten minutes the partners
switch roles, but of course this exercise can be done for a much longer period of time, especially if you are outside in nature. A one an hour walk becomes nothing, the time flies by.
When both partners have undergone the experience, they talk about what they got from it, first as a pair and subsequently with the entire group.
-THREE MONKEYS:
There should be groups consisting of three people. Each group of people needs to make some trip plans .An important part of the game is that each participant of every group has one ability: one can only hear,another one can only see and the third one can only talk. In this way participants discuss as many questions about their trip as possible. Only 7 minutes are given for this trip arrangement and afterwards it is checked how many questions were answered. At the end,they will share their opinions and how difficult it was for them to communicate but also how they felt during the process.
-MASK ART THERAPY:
This art activity is about decorating the outside part of a mask in the way that others or the outside world see us and also decorate the inside of the mask,representing how we see ourselves.Using a mask is perfect as a metaphor for exploring the different aspects of ourselves. There's something about masks - that really pull us in, evoke feelings, and actually has a long tradition in many cultures. It's a powerful symbol that helps us share our human experience.
21 of August 2023:
DAY 3:
INTRODUCTION:
Through working with images, we practice seeing and experiencing the world through the senses, not words. Sculpture work - without the head! Talk about life in pictures. Be aware of how we use the body. Since we worked with the body it was important to respect each other's boundaries.We used the body to create vibrant photographic 3D photos.
COMPLETE IMAGE:
We play various games and exercises and Image Theatre Techniques for issues of Oppression in order to establish trust,security and cooperation in the group setting.
In Image Theatre, still images (tableau) are used to explore abstract concepts as relationships and emotions,as well as realistic situations. Participants radiply their own and each other's bodies to express attitudes and emotions. These Images are then placed together and "dynamised" or brought to life. The method is often used to explore internal or external oppression,unconscious thoughts and feelings.
IMAGE WORK IN GROUPS:
We divided the participants into 5 groups and we gave them some pictures with some people in a specific posture and we asked them to create a story behind that picture that there is an oppressive situation.The task was to create a choreography synchron that they will start from a statue posture and then they have to show us a "conflict" situation,and when we clap they freezed in another statue and then after the second statue they had to show us how they dissolved the situation and at the end to take another posture.
THE GREAT GAME OF POWER:
One table and 6 chairs on the two edges of the room. First of all, participants divided into two groups were asked to come up and arrange the objects so as to make one chair become the most powerful object, in relation to the other chairs. Any of the objects can be moved or on their sides, or whatever, but none of the objects can be removed altogether from the space.
The group ran through a great number of variations in the arrangement. Then each group brought their strong chair to the centre of the circle. Moreover, the instructor brought 2 more simple chairs and placed them between the powerful chairs. One person from each group was asked to come and sit on the simple chair and tell us how they felt. Then we asked them to sit in their strong chair and tell us their feelings. They both told us that they felt stronger and fuller in the powerful chair. Afterwards, we asked them to close their eyes and then we removed all the materials that the 2 strong chairs had on them that made them look powerful. That way all four chairs were the same.
At the end there was a discussion among the participants and they came to the conclusion that we give value and power to anything. That is why it would be good to always feel that we are sitting in the powerful chair in all the decisions we will make in our lives.
22 of August 2023
DAY 4
BODY MOVEMENT:
Dance/movement provide the space for individuals to experience an invitation, a sense of choice, validation, and to tolerate internal sensations. They also offer compassionate and supportive ways to feel a sense of control and autonomy within their bodies.
MY FUTURE SELF:
Through guided visualization,participants made a more "clear image" in their minds about what they wanted to achieve in their lives and we also talked about the power of the subconscious mind and how we can achieve our dreams by using this power. At the end,we gave them some questions in order to answer in their notebooks and we discussed that experience and what they realized from it.
WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR FUTURE SELF:
Afterwards,we asked the participants to write a letter to themselves one year from now and then to give to one participant they feel more close to in order to send to them in one year.It's very important to realize how important it is to visualize exactly what they want to achieve in their lives.
GIVE A GIFT:
We told the group to form a circle and use imaginary clay to form a gift and give it to the person next to them in the circle. The next person will receive the gift based on what she thinks she is getting, and then form the clay to a new thing and give it to the next one.
23 of August 2023
DAY 5
-CULTURE VISIT TO ATHENS:
The Parthenon ( Ancient Greek: Παρθενών, Parthenṓn, Greek: Παρθενώνας, Parthenónas) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patroness. Construction started in 447 BC when the Delian League was at the peak of its power. It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order.
The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. The word acropolis is from the Greek words ἄκρον (akron, "highest point, extremity") and πόλις (polis, "city").The term acropolis is generic and there are many other acropolis in Greece. During ancient times the Acropolis of Athens was known also more properly as Cecropia, after the legendary serpent-man, Cecrops, the supposed first Athenian king.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Every four years, the Athenians had a festival called the Great Panathenaea that rivaled the Olympic Games in popularity. During the festival, a procession (believed to be depicted on the Parthenon frieze) traveled through the city via the Panathenaic Way and culminated on the Acropolis. There, a new robe of woven wool (peplos) was placed on either the statue of Athena Polias in the Erechtheum (during the annual Lesser Panathenaea) or on the statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon (during the Great Panathenaea, held every four years).
Within the later tradition of Western Civilization and classical revival, the Acropolis, from at least the mid-18th century on, has often been invoked as a key symbol of the Greek legacy and of the glories of Classical Greece.
Μost of the artifacts from the temple are housed today in the Acropolis Museum at the foot of the ancient rock.
24 of August 2023
DAY 6
DISCUSSION ABOUT OPPRESSION:
From a circle we discussed what Oppression is and whatever words they said,two volunteers noted it down on a poster and we created an " Oppression Map".After that, we asked them to write a statement about Oppression and to think about a time that they prevented from doing anything they wanted to do or they forced to do anything they didn't wanted to do.
PRESENTATIONS OF FORUM THEATRE:
Through the technique of brainstorming,the participants choosed a role to play from their life that showed oppression and each group decided to present one story. The person that said the story shared the roles between his/her group and watched with other participants (spect-actor) the story in the scene and after the first time has the power to see it again and even change the story completely.A facilitator (Joker) is necessary to enable communication between the players and the audience.
DRAW YOUR BODY:
All the participants lied on the floor and think about their body as a totality, and also about each of its constituent parts: fingers, head, mouth, tongue, legs, sex, eyes, hair, bellybutton, neck, elbows, shoulders, vertebrae, etc. After a few minutes of concentration, we gave each person a sheet of paper (the sheets of paper must all be the same size) and a pencil or felt pen . We asked each participant to draw their own body on the paper. The exercise makes the participants extremely conscious that each of us are, first and foremost,we have a body. We may be capable of constructing the most profound abstract ideas and devising the most extraordinary inventions, but it is only because we have,before all else, a body - before we have a name, we inhabit a body! And we rarely think of our body as the fundamental source of all pleasures and all pains, of all knowledge and all research, of everything.
25 of August 2023
Day 7
OPEN SPACE WITH PARTICIPANTS:
We prepared different corners that they can draw or they can write how they were feeling or to create something to give to another participant,to dance freely,to observe or even to create their corner with what they wish to explore and is a way to close this training.
EVALUATION:
We started to talk about how they felt during covid period and generally in crisis time and we saw that for every person it was a totally different experience because every human is unique and even if the event maybe is the same or similar,the experience can be very different to each one.
During our training each day we evaluate in different ways.Some days we were all together,or in two groups,with photos etc. The last day,we decided to make it a little more playful,so we gave each participant a kinder chocolate egg. After they ate it, we asked them to make the game that was inside and then to present to us how this gift has a meaning for them related with their experience of the training.It was a meaningful and fun activity but also a creative way to evaluate the training.
ERASMUS+/REFLECTION-EVALUATION-DISSEMINATION:
A general discussion of reflection of the programme and evaluation based again on discussion and questionnaires. Participants will make their personal plans for follow up and dissemination activities so as to spread the learning outcomes of the PDA.
GIVING YOUTHPASS TO PARTICIPANTS:
Participants will have the chance to complete online their youth pass abilities that they gain from the training. A time of another 15 days will be given to them to complete any competence keys they want to complete after re-briefing and making their own summing of their experiences and knowledge that they get in the training.