ConnectEd Seminar: Mental Health and Youth

València, 6–7 October 2025

Earlier this October, we held the International Seminar “ConnectEd: Bridging Minds, Building Communities” in València, focused on youth wellbeing and mental health.

Over two days, youth work professionals from different countries came together for a space of learning, exchange and connection. The seminar was organised within the framework of the ConnectEd project, co-funded by Erasmus+, with the aim of strengthening youth workers’ competences to better support young people’s emotional, social and educational wellbeing.

One of the highlights of the seminar was the training session led by Yolanda Gómez, a psychologist specialised in youth, who shared her vision on psychosocial support, prevention and mental wellbeing through a participatory and human-centred approach.

Her contribution inspired rich discussion among participants, and many of her recommendations will be integrated into the implementation manual of the Mental Health Workshop, currently under development.

During the seminar, participants piloted activities from the new Mental Health Workshop, focused on:

• Understanding myths and realities around mental health
• Identifying emotions and personal boundaries
• Building resilience and self-care strategies
• Creating safe and supportive environments

The seminar was an opportunity to share experiences across different youth work contexts and reflect on how to integrate emotional wellbeing into everyday youth work practice.

The insights gathered will feed into the next phase of the project, including the publication of the ConnectEd manual and related learning resources.

ConnectEd is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and implemented by TiPovej! (Slovenia), BACKSLASH (Spain), Libero (Serbia) and Connect International (Belgium).

Its mission: to create methodologies, tools and learning spaces that embed mental health and wellbeing into youth work.