VOLU-MENT – Mental Health Through Volunteering

The Talentum Foundation, as coordinator, launched an Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership project in July 2025 aimed at developing the capacity of organizations involved in local volunteering and in hosting/sending ESC volunteers, through the cooperation of civil society organizations from four countries (Georgia, Hungary, Portugal, Turkey).

Recognizing the decline of community activities and the deterioration of young people’s mental well-being, the primary objectives of the project are:

• to raise awareness of volunteering strengthened by mental support,

• to prepare staff members who coordinate/mentor young volunteers,

• to provide practical methods of mental support.

Further objectives include:

• expanding the knowledge and skills of staff working with young people in relation to mental support,

• strengthening inclusive practices within civil society organizations,

• improving the mental well-being of young people,

• involving young people in volunteering and thereby increasing their social activity,

• drawing the attention of decision-makers to the importance of volunteering as a tool for preventing social isolation and other mental burdens,

• supporting the active social participation of young people.

Project duration: 01 July 2025 – 31 March 2028
Budget category: EUR 250,000
Working language: English (project materials will be available in both English and Hungarian)

Main Work Packages of the Project:

WP 1: Project Management

During the project, we cooperate with local coordinators in the implementation. Main tasks include project support, monitoring processes, overseeing timelines and managing risks, supporting professional leadership, project communication, promotional materials, and organizing online and offline meetings.

WP 2: Research and Collection of Good Practices

The main goal of this project component is to PROVIDE A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR PROJECT DEVELOPMENTS, HIGHLIGHT SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARTNER COUNTRIES, and to create shared knowledge among partners regarding methods that respond to young people’s needs and can be immediately applied in practice.

The joint research conducted in the partner countries focuses on young people’s attitudes toward and motivation for volunteering. Progress reports and action plans based on local research results help experts view volunteering from a new perspective and design project outputs that meet real needs.

The COLLECTION OF GOOD PRACTICES FROM PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS serves to enable learning from existing practices and the development of new ones. Mapping and analyzing current organizational capacities allows organizations to provide conscious mental support to volunteers coming from their own countries and from abroad.

WP 3: International Workshop and Practical Guide on the Mental Support of Volunteers

The main goal of this project phase is to PROVIDE PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE TO STAFF MEMBERS AND YOUTH WORKERS OF CIVIL ORGANIZATIONS HOSTING VOLUNTEERS, enabling them to organize and support young people’s volunteer activities. Through this, professionals playing a key role in the volunteering process will recognize the importance of mental support.

Within the framework of the INTERNATIONAL CAPACITY-BUILDING WORKSHOP, key persons working with volunteers will be trained through a non-formal learning activity for youth workers and volunteer coordinators/mentors. Participatory methods (role plays, personal dialogues, peer consultation, sharing, etc.) will be applied. The training will address the most pressing topics related to mentoring, offering new alternatives and practical solutions for the everyday work of youth workers, and protecting them from frustration, helplessness, and burnout when working with young volunteers. The workshop curriculum will be available in five languages.

The PRACTICAL HANDBOOK ON THE MENTAL SUPPORT OF VOLUNTEERS will be an online collection containing questions/challenges and answers/solutions, as well as methods, infographics, short films, videos, and stories. It will demonstrate what mentors of volunteer-hosting organizations can do in their daily work when MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES arise. The handbook will be produced in English and translated into Hungarian, Georgian, Turkish, and Portuguese during the project.

WP 4: Local Volunteering Activities, Impact Measurement, Multiplication

The main goals of the final phase are to EXPLORE THE IMPACT AND ADDED VALUE OF VOLUNTEERING STRENGTHENED BY MENTAL SUPPORT IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY, to involve young people more deeply in the life of host organizations, to STRENGTHEN VOLUNTEERS’ SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT, and to make the importance of volunteering in mental health prevention visible.

After international and local trainings, youth workers will ORGANIZE LOCAL VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITIES and monitor the impact of mental support. The project will measure the impact among those who participated in international or local workshops and began implementing supportive methods, as well as among those who received mental reinforcement during their volunteer activities. Based on the results of the impact assessment, we will formulate a POLICY RECOMMENDATION for decision-makers, which may serve as a basis for future strategic decisions and support schemes.

As a long-term impact, we expect that volunteering strengthened by mental support will become a daily practice among participants of workshops and multiplier events, and will spread among participating partners and civil society organizations. We will also establish an EXPERIENCE-SHARING COMMUNITY, enabling experts to learn from one another in order to improve YOUNG PEOPLE’S MENTAL WELL-BEING AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT.

Official contact email: volument@talentumonkentes.hu

Partner organizations:

• Talentum Foundation for the Support of Volunteering, Hungary

• System and Generation, Türkiye

• Youth Association DRONI, Georgia

• Embaixada da Juventude, Portugal

 

The project is implemented with the support of the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme.
Project identification number: 2024-2-HU01-KA220-YOU-000286625