Mladost (je) ni norost 2025 - It takes a forest to grow a mushroom

Prof. Maria Pisani

Prof. Maria Pisani (she/her) is an academic, activist, and youth worker. She is Head of the Department of Youth, Community and Migration Studies and Chairperson of the Platform for Migration at the University of Malta. A critical, intersectional feminist, her research centers on forced migration as a gendered process and the lived experiences of young asylum seekers. Her recent work explores critical posthuman approaches to youth work. Maria’s scholarship is unapologetically political, driven by a deep commitment to social and planetary justice.

A tale of two Sophias: towards a critical posthuman youth work

This speech invites us to think differently about how we might imagine, support and sustain youth work. Just like mushrooms and forests depend on each other to survive, young people (and all of us) grow and thrive within networks of relationships with people, places, and the more-than-human world.

Drawing on critical posthuman ideas,  we will explore how youth work can recognize and support these wider connections. Together, we will reflect on how  youth workers, with young people, can be given the space, skills, and opportunities to engage with the big ethical challenges of our time, and to imagine new, hopeful ways of living and working together.

Angela Baldini

Angela Baldini is co-managing director of PI Europe gGmbH, which she has built up since its foundation in 2012. Since 2011, she has been part of the global team at the Presencing Institute, where her responsibilities include planning, developing, and implementing training formats in Europe. Another focus of her work is the integration of artistic processes into the curriculum of various learning formats to activate the inherent creative potential for collaborative work.

Angela is part of the leading and development team for Social Presencing Theater together with Arawana Hayashi and Manish Srivastava.

Social Presencing Theater Introduction

As each of us is engaging in efforts to work with uncertain times both individually, in families, work, communities and globally, we recognize how important it is to stay grounded in our embodied presence. We appreciate practices that can support our basic body-mind synchronization and the connection we feel to our “social bodies.”

Today many of us notice that our conventional and habitual ways of thinking and engaging in our life and work are not quite adequate. We long to contribute fresh insights and courage.

This two hour introduction offers a basic encounter with practices that help to access genuine creativity both personally and collectively:

• Individual body and mind synchronization
• Spatial and social awareness
• “Stuck” practice, using our bodies to unlock the innate creativity and energy that help see ways for moving forward.

Fien Buelens

Fien Buelens is a researcher and business developer within the Psychology and Technology research line at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences in Belgium. With a background in clinical and research psychology, she is passionate about exploring how technology can enhance mental health care. Fien strongly believes in bridging the gap between research and practice. She is committed to ensuring that scientific insights are translated into real-world applications, fostering collaboration between researchers and practitioners. To support this mission, she educates students and clinicians on the effective use of technology in care settings and assists organizations in implementing innovative solutions.

Immersive technologies in supporting youth (workers)

The workshop will start with a brief introduction on the history of immersive technologies such as 360° videos, virtual reality and augmented reality for mental health. You’ll learn more about why youth workers should consider making use of it, about the current evidence base, the potential and the limitations. This will be followed by hands-on experiences with different tools and apps, allowing you to experience a number of tools and applications yourself. The workshop doesn’t require any prior experience with immersive technology, just a keen interest in exploring what it might mean for you and for your future practice.

Petra Garin

Petra Garin was a highly experienced professional in the advertising industry and a mother of two, when a series of repeated knee injuries changed the course of her life.
After undergoing four surgeries for torn cruciate ligaments and losing confidence in her body’s reliability, she began exploring body patterns through the practice of Somatic Movement, developed by Dr. Thomas Hanna.

Through somatic practice, she was able to retrain her muscle patterns and has been living free of pain for more than ten years. Today, she is an experienced somatic teacher who leads workshops for individuals, groups, and teams.

Her workshops are designed for people who want to take an active role in changing their own body patterns, influence their body’s trauma responses, and overcome chronic pain. She works with participants of all ages — from young people to adults — and guides them in:

• Exploring their bodies through sensory-motor awareness and improving body–mind connection,
• Understanding how trauma impacts the body and learning ways to transform trauma patterns,
• Releasing muscle blockages in the sensory-motor system and understanding how these patterns are linked to emotions.

She has taught hundreds of individuals in her online school and has led workshops for thousands of professionals, including schoolteachers, music teachers, and business professionals.

The long-term results her participants achieve include releasing trauma-related muscle blockages and reducing or eliminating chronic pain. Improvements have been reported in cases such as herniated discs, spondylitis, spinal collapse, shoulder and neck pain, hip pain, heel spurs, and calcification.

How to Release and Transform Your Body Patterns: The Link Between Trauma, Muscle Contraction, and Chronic Pain

In this practical, experience-based workshop, participants will explore their bodies through gentle somatic micro-movements, breath, and sensory awareness. They will discover how to create transformational changes in muscle tension and how to feel freer and lighter in their bodies.

What to bring:

• A yoga mat
• A blanket

This is a hands-on, guided session designed to give participants a direct experience of somatic movement and breathwork, and to show how small, conscious changes can release long-held patterns of pain and tension.

Suzana Krstić

Suzana Krstić is a psychologist, Gestalt psychotherapist, consultant, and trainer. She runs a private practice in Belgrade, working with individual clients, couples, and therapy groups. She also facilitates family constellations with various groups in different countries. She actively explores and experiments with integrating Gestalt therapy and group work through different approaches. She has developed a specialized training program on applying Gestalt methodology and Gestalt theatre tools in group work, as well as training programs for therapists working with groups. She has been involved in the field of non-formal education for 30 years, where, as a trainer and educator, she has designed and conducted numerous trainings and seminars in Serbia and across Europe, primarily in the areas of communication skills, group work methodology, mental health, and supervision.

From the Hidden Basement to the Spacious Living Room – Exploring Parts in Youth Worker Supervision

What happens when we don’t bring just “our professional self” to supervision — but our entire inner team?

In this experiential workshop, we will explore the internal parts that shape our work as youth workers, mentors, and supervisors, using the principles of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and a systemic approach to supervision. Together, we’ll meet the Helpers, Saboteurs, Perfectionists, Inner Teenagers, and the Quiet Observers — the voices within that we often overlook.

Through the use of projective cards, guided processes, and symbolic spatial metaphors (the basement, the living room, the attic), participants will be invited to engage in dialogue with their internal parts — discovering their roles, wounds, and resources — and gently release them from rigid positions they may have assumed in their work with young people.

This workshop is designed for youth workers, mentors, and supervisors who wish to approach their professional practice in a more personal, present, and deeply rooted way.

Dr. Boštjan Čampa, mag. soc. del.

Dr. Boštjan Čampa je mentor, (meta)supervizor in terapevt relacijsko-družinske smeri, Somatic Experiencing Pratitioner.

V okviru Terapevtske pomoči izvaja partnerske, družinske in individualne terapije, supervizije, ter različna izobraževanja. Njegovo terapevtska in raziskovalna usmeritev je predvsem v delo z osebami, ki se soočajo s izkušnjo travme, v področje anksioznosti in močnejših stisk v odnosih, v specifičnost terapevtskega dela z moškimi ter s povzročitelji nasilja. Bil je večletni vodja Terapevtske skupine za moške in terapevtske skupine za osebe, ki se soočajo s socialno anksioznostjo.

Izvaja izobraževalne seminarje na področju dela s travmo, samoregulacije, specifičnosti dela s skupinami ter na temo medosebnih odnosov in efektivnosti v podjetjih/organizacijah.

Za psihoterapevte, organizacije na področju socialnega varstva in šolstva (vzgojno-izobraževalni zavodi) izvaja supervizijo ter predava na univerzi SFU.

Ohranjanje sebe v zahtevnih pogovorih – izkustveno-teoretični pristopi k delu z mladostniki

Interaktivna, izkustveno-teoretična delavnica za strokovne delavce, ki delajo z mladostniki.

V zahtevnejših odnosnih situacijah, v visoko čustveno nabitih okoliščinah je izziv ujeti sebe (embodiement) in se ohranjati skozi pogovor oz. delovanje.

V ta namen bodo predstavljena osnovna izhodišča z »orodji« za postopanje v takih situacijah, s poudarkom na embodimentu, sočutju do sebe, skrbi zase, mejah in empatiji do mladostnika, zavestni uporabi resursov /virov tako pri sebi kot pri mladostniku.