The last couple of years were hard on everybody’s mental health. We didn’t get to do much circus but we managed to attend the training course called “Keep calm: tools for youth mental well-being.

We learned about many ways to maintain our mental wellbeing and manage our negative emotions.

The training course took place in Urdos, France, and included 26 participants and 4 team members from 13 countries (France, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Spain, Lithuania, Greece).

The 8-days training course was created to to promote mental hygiene and mental wellbeing in everyday life and to secure smooth inclusion of young people with emotional distress/mental issue/ mental disorders into society. Through this training we aimed to equip youth workers with innovative methods to help youngsters regularly maintain psychological balance using mix of:

– artistic activities

– physical activities

– personal care activities.

The training course was using elements from methods appied: experiential learning,

circus pedagogy, conscious travel, art therapy, meditation, yoga, forest therapy and others.

At Cirkus la Bulle. we like to play so we decided to create a training course about that:

In recent years, the importance and the role of playing in everyday life are being redefined. Play at work is related with less fatigue, boredom, stress and burnout. Play is also positively associated with job satisfaction, sense of competence and creativity.

Social games have proven to be an effective tool to stimulate learning and create moments of deep reflection and understanding at a personal level.

A well-designed and well-facilitated game can leave an everlasting mark and change attitudes and behaviours.

With this in mind, the Power of Play project aimed at equipping youth workers with tools, framework and space to create and implement educational games which address social issues and can be applied in the particular environment of social action and youth work.

The training course “ The power of play ” was organized in Urdos, France, during the period of 28.06 – 05.07.2021, and included 20 participants and 3 team members from 10 countries (France, Slovenia, Italy, Bulgaria, Latvia, Portugal, Poland, Greece, Romania, Spain).

During the 8-days training course, we discovered how the various use of social games as a method of youth work. Our main idea was that social games are appealing and fun for everybody, making it ideal as a tool for educational work with youngsters.

Cirkus La Bulle participated in the training course ” Theatre: Breaking the Wall of Extremism “, which was organized in Urdos, France, during the period of 15.07 – 24.07.2021, and included 24 participants and 4 team members from 10 countries (France, Slovenia, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Netherland, Greece, Romania, Spain).

The 10-days training course was created to raise their awareness on the youth Extremism and Radicalisation in Europe, and help them to prevent these issues, through the use of the most democratic, complete, flexible and interactive tool available in non-formal education, namely Theatre.

Theatrical approaches used during the training course included Forum theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed, Image theatre, Shadow theatre, Puppetry, Storytelling, Body and Voice work.

Not all classrooms have four walls. Real excitement is when you are learning in a non-formal way and you don’t even realise how much it is polishing your skills. Simulation & role-play games are appealing and fun for everybody, making it ideal as a tool for educational work with youngsters.

In 2021, Cirkus la Bulle travelled to the beach of Vieux-Boucau, on the Atlantic coast in France for the project called “Game Zone”.

The training course including 24 participants and 5 team members from 11 countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Malta, Poland, portugal and Slovenia) was organised By association la Villa (FR), Shokkin Group (EST) and BE international (CZ)

During the 8 day training coursem we discovered how to use educational games as a method of youth work. Our main idea is that simulation and roleplay games are appealing and fun for everybody, making it ideal as a tool of education with youngsters.

The aim of the project was to equip youth workers and youth leaders with tools, frameworks and space to create and implement educational games that address social issues and can be applied in their environments.