Activity objectives

Objectives:

1. Increase youth workers’ knowledge and awareness of mental health, wellbeing, and common challenges experienced by young people.

2. Develop practical skills and competences for promoting positive mental health and responding to difficulties in non-clinical ways.

3. Reflect on the role of the youth worker and the wider organisational culture in shaping a mentally healthy environment for young people.

4. Strengthen capacities for crisis management, risk prevention, and safe responses to challenging situations.

Description

Call for Trainers: Mental Health in Youth Work Training Course

We are looking for a group of trainers (6–7 people) to help plan training module on mental health in youth work. Later this group of trainers can potentially be involved in the running of the trainings.

The training will be developed during early 2026, with the first run in April 2026.

The project is originated under the Mental Health in Youth Work SNAC, and coordinated by the Finnish National Agency of Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps.

About the Training

The 3-day training is aimed at youth workers who support young people in everyday settings. It focuses on:

• Understanding mental health and wellbeing
• Learning mental health skills
• Promoting mental health through everyday youth work
• Recognising signs of distress and responding appropriately
• Managing crises and preventing risks
• Reflecting on how organisational culture affects young people’s mental health

The training is not clinical. It does not involve therapy, diagnosis, or treatment. The goal is to build awareness and practical skills that youth workers can use in their daily work.

Who We’re Looking For

We invite people who:

• have experience of working with young people in youth work settings (professionally or voluntarily)
• have experience in mental health skills, knowledge, awareness and training others about mental heath
• have experience in training, facilitation, and developing learning content
• are interested in working together to plan a training module
• may be interested to run the training at a later stage

This call is submitted only to a limited number of trainers and facilitators, who have either been running activities under Mental Health in Youth Work SNAC previously, or who have been recommended by the National Agencies.

The call is not open, but if you have a colleague, who you have been working with on the same topics, you can pass the application link to them. Do not spread the link publicly to everyone.

What the Role Involves

As part of the trainer team, you will:

• Take part in the planning meeting in on 1-4 December 2025 in Helsinki, Finland
• Design the training content in a team with other selected trainers based on content proposals by the organising NA
• Co-create the call text and application form for the training
• Finalise the training script in January-February 2026

Once the training course is ready, we promote it to the wider network of National Agencies. The trainers who are selected to create the training concept will be invited to apply to be part of the trainer’s team to run these trainings.

The first run of the training course will happen in Norway April 2026.

The Fee

For developing the training module and script, the fee will be 350€ per day for each of the selected trainers. The estimated work time (to be agreed later) is:

• 3 days for planning meeting in Helsinki
• 4 days of creating the module and script

Equals 7 days of work, 2450 €.

Travel costs, accommodation and meals are covered during the planning meeting in Finland.

How to Apply

If you’re interested, please apply through this application form: https://tcanetplatform.com/form/call-for-trainers-mhyw?source_entity_type=group&source_entity_id=685#no-back

Submit your application by 17.10.2026.

Selection Criteria

In the selection of trainers, we will pay attention on

• competence and experience in daily youth work
• competence and previous experience in training of youth workers
• competence and understanding in mental health related topics
• competence in training others on mental health awareness, skills, methodology

We pay attention on the gender balance and geographical balance of applicants.