Our first edition of Activist Skills Training “Sustainable Activism & Self-Care”

The first edition of the YEN Activist Skills Training “Sustainable Activism & Self-Care” took place in Berlin, Germany, from the 1st-4th February 2024. 16 young participants from European autochthonous, ethnic, national, and linguistic minorities took part in the training weekend on the theme of self-care, and learning and exchanging tools to prevent stress and burnout.

To start, our trainer Maryam Majidova, co-founder of Gender Hub Azerbaijan and member of the Advisory Council on Youth (Council of Europe) introduced participants to the weekend’s program, non-formal education methods and the aim of the training: that participants would reflect on an learn how they can take care of their mental health within their activism. After playing some name games and introducing YEN’s work our participants got some rest after a long day of travel.

The first day began with some get-to-know-each-other games, including a “speed dating” where the young activists learned more about one another’s activism, cultures, and backgrounds. After the group had written their “Group Agreement” for how to spend their time together, they dove straight into the first session of sharing their own activist stories. The group discussed the connections between sustainable activism and mental health, and spent some time reflecting on their own mental health, needs, and capacities. The afternoon’s session focused on sharing coping practises for stressful situations in their daily life, before trying out some of each other’s methods in the group.

After dinner, the Cultural Evening provided a welcome space for the young activists to share stories, songs, dances and delicious snacks from back home. We were introduced to historical facts, festivals, dances, publications and minority language statistics from our participants’ communities. It was a beautiful open space in which everyone got to know each other better, and celebrate diversity in all its facets!

The second day focused on practising resilience, and learning how to be more active (in a healthy way) within our minority youth organisations. A short meditation practise led by one of our participants was a welcome break in the day. With a template outline from Maryam, the participants went on to write their own Self-Care Plan, which aimed to help them create and follow a structure for healthier forms of activism (and remembering to rest between!) This was followed by the closing session, where everyone reflected on their time at the training and what they had learned (or perhaps, unlearnt).

It was interesting to see how everyone dealt with expectations from one’s organisation or community, or the expectation one has for one’s own activism. How we define success proves different from person to person, and from minority to minority! Along with the focus on self-care, the training put intersectionality at the forefront, and despite the participants varied backgrounds, they could share their personal activist stories, find overlaps, and feel less alone in their activist journeys and fights for autonomy, recognition, and human rights.

We are so pleased with how our first edition of Activist Skills Training went! And can’t wait for the next edition in summer 2024.

Thank you to our amazing participants, and our trainer Maryam. Thank you to Sophienhof for the accommodation and for receiving us so gracefully. And thank you to our funders: The European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe.