NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro held a workshop on personal values and overcoming social anxiety. The workshop was held on May 14, 2019 at M-tel Digital Factory, and the working title of the workshop is “My Shield Against Bad Times”. About 30 young people participated in the workshop.
In a crowded room, young people had the opportunity to hear more information about the organization itself and how to find the opportunities for young people in the easiest way. Attendees were also briefed on the work of the volunteer service, which operates within the organization itself.
In the following, the participants got to know each other better through activities such as energy and connectivity maps. Through these activities, the participants discovered each other a little more about themselves and created a unique atmosphere as a group.
One of the activities was to work on a personal shield, in which the attendees were tasked with reflecting on personal values that are essential in life, people from their environment they admire, and those who support them. Through talking about personal values, sharing information with a group, participants learned how to empower themselves, but also how to make their own judgment.
Another technique the attendees learned was actually another mechanism of communication and how to overcome social anxiety. This activity is known as “strangeship”. The attendees are divided into two groups. As “foreigners”, they talked to each other about issues prepared in advance.
The techniques they have learned have been developed as part of one of the training courses under the Empowering Minorities: a project to improve practicies for work with minorities, which is co-financed by the EU under the Erasmus + program.
The workshop itself was another form of informal youth education. Through conversation, fun and socializing, young people have adopted these techniques.
