The Project
We live in an era of rapid technological advancement and we are incapable of filtering the changes that occur around us fast enough. Due to this, and the fact that the older have not been educated on the subject of the world-wide, online communication system, they often cannot help or protect the youngsters, or even themselves, from being exposed to this gargantuan net of information.
When using the internet, we watch, read and hear more than we can handle and we can get addicted more easily to it and its offered products. The scientific community has been referring to addiction as a brain disorder, characterized by the compulsive and repetitive exposure to an addictive habit, whose excessive nature brings harm to the individual.
Every person knows someone who is or has been addicted. It doesn’t have to be drugs, alcohol or gambling; it can be food, video games, or even athletics. Anything can become, be seen and confronted as an addiction.
As such, this ever-growing problem has to stop or at least be reduced. We have to confront it at its core and that's what we wanted to do with this project.
Scope & Objectives
The main aim of this project was to reduce risks of addictions among young people and to protect young people from harm produced by their own or their close people's addictions. As well as:
•To instill the knowledge in the young peoples’ minds, that addiction is a disorder like any other, and can pose as a threat to a persons’ health
•To attempt and explore the nature of addictions and the reason of why we are so fond of addictiveness, that we do not seem able to get rid of it
•To learn about ways and techniques, with which we can prevent the birth of addictive habits in an individuals’ mind
•To research and apply innovative methods on encountering addictions of every kind.
Participants
30 young people from Greece, Tunisia, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands and Algeria took part in the project.
All participants had a clear motivation to learn about and tackle addiction issues because of their personal or close one’s problems.
Good level of English allowed everybody to share their personal experiences, knowledge opinions, culture and positive energy with others!
Activities
Always flavored with energizers & interactivity, the project activities were focusing on developing the matter of addictions, putting down all existing info & finding out the ways to fight with them.
-Work in national teams about “Addictions in our countries” resulted into deep research of the addictions field in each of the participants' countries.
-MIND MAP created by participants during a group brainstorming and the mind map helped in all further discussions and interactions.
-Addiction and mental illness highlighted the relation of addiction to mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, depression and dissociate identity disorder - an activity for the participants to see addiction as both a cause and a result.
-Theatrical activity was an interactive & creative session, targeting addiction’s manifestation within the society.
-Discussion circles included interactive sessions about personal addictions and risks - priceless opportunity to be open about personal fears, experiences and hopes.
-Support and stress relieve circle resulted into creation of a list of methods and activities to relieve stress, as it's one of the first reasons that usually leads to addictive states.
-Cultural Activities: Cultural nights that followed each project day were a delight to have a closer look at all the things that make each country unique.
And of course, all participants had a chance to learn about the Greece, Epirus region, the history, culture and local traditions by meeting local inhabitants of Stavroskiadi village and by visiting Ioannina town, Vikos gorge, Monodendri village, Dodoni sanctuary, etc.