Programme: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: training course
Dates: 10—18 July 2022
Venue: Dilijan, Armenia
National team size: 3 participants
Please read the infopack & more detailed project content information.
Participating countries: Germany, Spain, Albania, Georgia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Armenia, France and Poland.
Hosting organisation: Loesje Armenia
Czech team: Katarína Bieliková, Filip Kňažek, Eliška Trčková, Tomáš Rábek
Project report:
Over 2500 kilometres far from Czechia lies one remarkable and beautiful country. It is maybe small and sometimes it seems that live there is not so well organized, but you can find there many – remarkable landscape, kind and hospitable people and if you ever decide to you visit this land, you won´t regret. The name of this place is Armenia. Our Czechoslovak team of 4 and other 22 participants from Germany, Spain, Georgia, Latvia, Armenia, France, and Poland had an opportunity to visit this interesting country and be a part of, perhaps even more interesting, training course titled Stress and Trauma Work, which was hold from 10th to 18th July.
The first official meeting spot on the first day was settled in the Republic Square in Yerevan at 10 o’clock. From this moment we were officially participants of the training course and we travelled together by bus to the Dilijan National Park, where the TC took place. I would say that our hostel was a perfect place for this type of TC, fresh air, nature, and mountains all around the place were calming and healing for us by itself.
Almost every day we followed the same schedule. After breakfast our morning programme started at half past 9 and ended at 1 p.m.. Lunch was in the traditional Armenian style, each of us was choosing from different types of meals, which we were sharing over the table – different kinds of fresh vegetable, salads, white bread and lavash (traditional Armenian flatbread), cheese, lentils, peas, beans, meat, dipping sauce, bulgur, rice… In the afternoon the programme started at half past 3 p.m. and ended about 7 p.m.. After dinner we had free time and we could explore the city, talk and enjoy each other’s company in the garden, sing and play the music instruments, spend some time with our roommates, dance in the training room and so on.
Every day we started the programme by mediation and then we could bring any important topic during the sharing circle. The rest of the process was different every day. Through various types of activities, we connected to ourselves, to our bodies and to other participants. We gave each other support, looked back into our past, discovered our character, realised our introjections. We were working with touches, opening our traumas, trying some technics from gestalt theatre, working on self-development through dancing, painting and many more. All these activities were managed by our great, supporting, and experienced trainers. Hranush Shanahzaryan from Armenia, who focuses on trauma healing, gestalt drama therapist Diego Marin from Spain and Raffaela Then, a somatic psychotherapist from Berlin. It is also important to mention the host organisation Loesje Armenia, namely Asya and Gayane, without their work this TC wasn´t happened at all.
Besides of this we had also one free afternoon. Some of us decided to explore unbridled Armenian nature and mountains, others were spending this afternoon by magnificent Sevan Lake.
This training course bring to our lives new inspiration and teach us new technics, which we can use as youth workers. Give us a chance to meet with other cultures and make new international friendships. I strongly believe that it was a great meaningful and unforgettable week for all of us.
Eliška Trčková
