The Project
The project "kHIK it - Strategies to engage socially isolated youngsters", co-founded by the Erasmus Plus Programme, was created in response to the emergence of a new form of youth distress, revealed through a voluntary social isolation. It is a phenomenon that affects young people aged 14 to 30, who often experience school phobia and school withdrawal, anthropophobia, obsessive and compulsive symptoms, social avoidance, apathy and depressed mood. An emerging phenomenon not defined as for dimensions and characteristics by specific investigations at European level, that remains mostly the object of research.
How can we intercept young people in social withdrawal and those at risk? And when intercepted, how can we help them?
"kHIK it" sought to provide these questions with an answer, analyzing the characteristics of the phenomenon of social withdrawal in the realities of the partnership network, involving trainers and youth workers in the definition of suitable lines of intervention to intercept and recover young people in condition of social isolation and guidelines to structure information and prevention plans in schools, to be addressed to students, parents and teachers, in order to identify and prevent cases of social desease before it can become deviant.
Objectives
Knowledge
Broaden the knowledge of youth workers on the phenomenon of voluntary social isolation.
Analysis
Analyze the characteristics of the phenomenon of social withdrawal in the partners' local communities.
Strategies
Define an operational plan, intervention strategies and techniques to prevent and tackle youth social withdrawal.
Activities
Main activities from March 2020 to March 2022.
FOCUS GROUPS "YOUTH: PEER RELATIONS AND RISK OF ISOLATION"
During 2020 and 2021, all participating organisations held a focus group with youth workers, psychologists, young people, youth leaders and teachers. As a result, the organisations explored the following themes based on a common questioning route: social isolation and voluntary social withdrawal; causes and sentinel factors; prevention and intervention strategies.
The focus groups involved a total number of 133 participants (youth workers, psychologists, young activists, youth leaders, teachers, social workers and cultural and linguistic mediators).
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
The seminar, hosted in Naples from 28 to 31 October 2021, involved twenty-seven youth workers, representatives of the partner organisations, and two facilitators in deepening the theme of voluntary social isolation and sharing experiences, skills, techniques, strategies and good practices to prevent and combat the phenomenon.
E-PUBLICATION "SOCIAL ISOLATION: TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGIES TO IDENTIFY, PREVENT AND COMBAT THE PHENOMENON"
The participants, supported by their organisations, collected the results of the project activities into the ePublication "Social isolation: techniques and strategies to identify, prevent and combat the phenomenon". The ePublication is freely downloadable from the project website and is online in a flipbook version.
Results
The main tangible result of the project is the ePublication "Social isolation: strategies for identifying, preventing and combating the phenomenon", collecting the results of the Focus Groups "Youth: peer relations, the risk of isolation and prevention" and KHIK IT international seminar. The ePublication was read online by more than 2,500 people.
The project enhanced the competences of 29 youth workers:
- increased knowledge and skills to intercept and support young people at risk/in social withdrawal;
- improved understanding and ability to manage situations of youth distress and related relational dynamics;
- the competence to strengthen the primary (family) and secondary (friends) social network of young people in conditions or at risk of social withdrawal through prevention and awareness-raising initiatives;
- knowledge of the dynamics and characteristics of the phenomenon of voluntary social isolation and the ability to identify the warning signs of the phenomenon;
- the ability to plan, implement and evaluate information and prevention actions on the phenomenon, to be addressed to young people, schools, families and civil society;
- knowledge of how to activate and/or contribute to intervention networks to support the enhancement of social skills and the reintegration of young people at risk or in conditions of voluntary social isolation.
Furthermore, the participants improved practical skills (e.g., planning and organization, project management), analytical skills, learning to learn, interpersonal and social competences, emotional skills and cultural awareness and expression competences.
Partner organisations
Associazione Akira - Italy
Sprijin si Dezvoltare - Romania
Fundacja "Zielony Slon" - Poland
Youth Bridges Budapest - Hungary
G.U.I.D.E. - Bulgaria
Contextos - Portugal
Team4Excellence - Romania
The Network of Youth Engagement - Greece
Youth BCN - Spain