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The Experience – what we did and What we learned?

The Romanian team, Ștefan, Daniela, and Cătălina, returned from the Erasmus+ training course “The Experience” in Ogulin, Croatia, with a clearer, more structured way of working with young people and youth workers.

What They Learned in Ogulin

The programme focused on practical tools they could use in mentoring and experiential learning. During the training course, they worked with several concrete methods:

- Meditation for reflection and emotional regulation, helping participants slow down and notice what they feel.

- Role-play for mentors, to practise active listening, empathy and solution-focused conversations.

- Six Thinking Hats, to structure discussions and look at situations from different perspectives.

- Four feedback models, offering clear ways to give supportive and non-harmful feedback.

These tools became the basis for a mentoring activity they later implemented at home.

Back in Romania, the team organised a small mentoring workshop with three teenagers aged 15–18. The aim was to work on emotional awareness, decisions and personal challenges using the methods from Ogulin.

They used:

  • - short meditation and grounding exercises at the start;
  • - role-play situations to express worries and try out confident decisions;
  • - elements of the Six Thinking Hats (especially red, white and green);
  • - constructive feedback techniques so that sharing felt safe and respectful.

Each teenager focused on a different issue:

  • - one explored and eased a fear of heights;
  • - one worked on exam pressure and university-related stress;
  • - one addressed fear of speaking up and shyness, practising more confident communication.

The participants said they felt more understood, calmer and clearer about their next steps.

After the teen workshop, the team held a second session with three local youth workers. They presented:

  • - the tools learned in Ogulin
  • - how they adapted them for teenagers
  • - the outcomes of the mentoring activity

Youth workers appreciated that the methods were concrete, easy to use and suitable for different groups. They showed particular interest in the short meditation exercises and flexible role-play formats, and asked for examples and templates to apply in their own activities.

Through these follow-up actions, the Ogulin training course directly influenced local mentoring practice and youth work in the community.

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Financed with the funds of the European Union. The expressed opinions and views reflect solely the opinion of the author and they do not have to coincide with the views of the European Union or the National Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting body cannot be held responsible for them.

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